"Orval Fairbairn" wrote in message
news
In article ,
"Jeff Findley" wrote:

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
news:9uedndNH2KzPSZvVnZ2dnUVZ_oWdnZ2d@northdakotat elephone...
And guess who wins?: http://www.physorg.com/news127499715.html

The scientists. The kid was wrong and the news stories that say he's
right
are also wrong.

NASA Watch has some info on this.

Jeff

I would have to examine the models used in both calculations, as
long-term perturbations from Earth, Venus, Jupiter, solar wind, etc. of
Apophis' orbit can affect the answers.

This is not something you can calculate on the back of an envelope and
get a meaningful answer.

Sure this isn't something you can do on the back of an envelope.

My Orbital Mechanics professor at Purdue used to work at JPL. She's still
at Purdue doing really interesting work. I had to work pretty hard in that
class, so I know how hard it can be even for a "simple" problem like the
kind you'd find on a 500 level exam.

So, who are you going to believe? The kid with the science fair project or
NASA?

Jeff
--
A clever person solves a problem.
A wise person avoids it. -- Einstein