The World will End in September 28, 2015- NASA resisted
Nasa has stated in clear, unequivocal terms that a world-ending asteroid impact will not occur in September.
The American space agency was forced to issue the denial after rumours went viral online that the US government was covering-up the news to prevent panic.
The rumours specifically claimed that an impact "near Puerto Rico" was set to occur between 15-28 September 2015. Originating from a prophesy told to Reverend Efrain Rodriguez by none other than God himself, the rumours had suggested that the impact would cause "wanton destruction to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States and Mexico, as well as Central and South America", Nasa explained.
It's not going to happen.
"There is no scientific basis -- not one shred of evidence -- that an asteroid or any other celestial object will impact Earth on those dates," said Paul Chodas, manager of Nasa's Near-Earth Object office, in a statement one imagines was issued through gritted teeth.
"In fact, not a single one of the known objects has any credible chance of hitting our planet over the next century."
Paul Chodas,
NASA
Asteroid impacts are fairly common, of course, but Nasa said that of all the rocks currently known about and classed as 'Potentially Hazardous' there is just a 0.01 percent chance one would hit Earth in the next century.
"If there were any object large enough to do that type of destruction in September, we would have seen something of it by now," Chodas said. "Again, there is no existing evidence that an asteroid or any other celestial object is on a trajectory that will impact Earth. In fact, not a single one of the known objects has any credible chance of hitting our planet over the next century."
Sadly, for Nasa, this is not the first time the agency has been forced to deny some extremely unlikely end-of-the-world scenario which has gone viral on social media. In 2011 it was called on to state that Comet Elenin was not going to hit Earth -- it broke up in space on its own -- and in 2012 it issued a series of denials about various apocalyptic conspiracies which did not, in reality, occur.
The American space agency was forced to issue the denial after rumours went viral online that the US government was covering-up the news to prevent panic.
The rumours specifically claimed that an impact "near Puerto Rico" was set to occur between 15-28 September 2015. Originating from a prophesy told to Reverend Efrain Rodriguez by none other than God himself, the rumours had suggested that the impact would cause "wanton destruction to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States and Mexico, as well as Central and South America", Nasa explained.
It's not going to happen.
"There is no scientific basis -- not one shred of evidence -- that an asteroid or any other celestial object will impact Earth on those dates," said Paul Chodas, manager of Nasa's Near-Earth Object office, in a statement one imagines was issued through gritted teeth.
"In fact, not a single one of the known objects has any credible chance of hitting our planet over the next century."
Paul Chodas,
NASA
Asteroid impacts are fairly common, of course, but Nasa said that of all the rocks currently known about and classed as 'Potentially Hazardous' there is just a 0.01 percent chance one would hit Earth in the next century.
"If there were any object large enough to do that type of destruction in September, we would have seen something of it by now," Chodas said. "Again, there is no existing evidence that an asteroid or any other celestial object is on a trajectory that will impact Earth. In fact, not a single one of the known objects has any credible chance of hitting our planet over the next century."
Sadly, for Nasa, this is not the first time the agency has been forced to deny some extremely unlikely end-of-the-world scenario which has gone viral on social media. In 2011 it was called on to state that Comet Elenin was not going to hit Earth -- it broke up in space on its own -- and in 2012 it issued a series of denials about various apocalyptic conspiracies which did not, in reality, occur.