According to a press release dated January 8, 2008, NASA/JPL spokesmen say that the odds of collision between asteroid 2007 WD5 and Mars have now dropped to 2.5%.
We have updated the orbit of 2007 WD5 using new observations from the 3.5-meter telescope at the Calar Alto Observatory in Spain. This update also incorporates refinements to the Sloan precovery observations mentioned previously. While the best estimate of close approach distance remains steady at about 30,000 km, the uncertainty in position at the close approach has decreased by a factor of three. As a result, the impact probability estimate has fallen to 2.5%, or 1-in-40 odds. If the estimated miss distance remains stable in future updates, the impact probability will continue to fall as continuing observations further constrain the uncertainties.
The asteroid was discovered on Nov. 20, 2007 by the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey. Calculations on Dec. 28, 2007 showed the highest chance of collision with a probability of 4%.
For the full story, please visit: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/
