Chad Love: Book Your Trips Before 2029

Did you know an asteroid almost hit the Earth on Jan 13? I didn’t, either. Not to worry, though. According to this story on Wired.com the asteroid probably wasn’t large enough to create any sort of Deep Impact-type carnage.

The rock, between 30 and 50 feet across, was not in danger of striking the planet and probably would have burned up in the atmosphere before hitting Earth’s surface, if it had headed our way. The asteroid, dubbed 2010 AL30 was first spotted and announced Monday. It is the closest encounter Earth will have with any known object until 2024.

The good news is, my dreams of someday catching bluefin tuna, tarpon and salt-run stripers are still intact. The bad news is, I might want to get it done before 2029…

From the story:

In 2029 an asteroid known as Apophis will come three times closer than Wednesday’s asteroid did. Though the chances it will hit Earth are just one in 250,000, it is the subject of a lot of discussion, and Russia has announced it is making plans to deflect it.

Here’s a link to some cool – if frightening – NASA animation showing what the near-miss might look like. I think NASA wisely chose not to produce animation showing what a collision with the 900-foot asteroid might look like.

So remember to book those trips or chase those dreams now, and recession be damned…