All of the talk about an asteroid wiping out life on Earth next year is almost certainly overblown. Discovery Magazine's Bad Astronomy blog writes that the odds of 2012 DA14 impacting Earth this year are "essentially zero."
012 DA14 shares the Earth's orbit with the sun, so it could come back to
pose a threat in the future. But even a worst-case scenario impact from
the asteroid, which is 150 feet in diameter, isn't likely to wipe out
civilization. First, it would have to overcome the substantial odds of
making impact with our planet. Then, it would need to survive entry
through Earth's atmosphere. And finally, it would have to strike a lake,
or a body of water near enough a population center to trigger a tsunami, earthquake or some other natural disaster....
P.S. I'm not worried about the asteroid;I'm more concerned with the US spacecraft returning from Venus.
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