I always enjoy talking to a friend of mine who had a baby in 2012, and realized that the boy simply needs to live to be 88 yoa to ring in the year 2100!
And the older I get, the more I realize that 88 is not all that old, and also, I won't see 2100, but that young man will. He's only got 74 years to go!
I bring this all up because no one around today - not I, not you, not that young man, and not even a baby born this morning will be around on September 24, 2182. That's 156 years from now, and way out of reach for all of us currently bopping around on Earth - especially those who take health advice from RFK, Jr.
However - astronomers have worked out that date - 9/24/2182 - as arrival day for the asteroid Bennu. If The Big B hits Earth, the impact could be significant: the impact could trigger a global winter, causing significant cooling (7°F cooler), 15% less rain, and 20-30% less photosynthesis, resulting in disrupted food security for years.
Now before you go running down to the fallout shelter to see if you have enough Charmin tucked away, as it were, you should know, the chance for Benny hitting earth is 1 in 2,700.
What's more, Bennu is only a medium-sized asteroid, maybe a third of a mile wide. That is much smaller than the 'roid that wiped out all the dinosaurs.
So cheer up! You won't be around, and it might not happen, anyway.
And, for crying out loud, Bennu is messy! He left behind all these space crumbs as he rocketed around!
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