'Tiny chance' of planet collision (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Pallab Ghosh
Science correspondent, BBC News

Astronomers calculate there is a tiny chance that Mars or Venus could collide with Earth - though it would not happen for at least a billion years.

The finding comes from simulations to show how orbits of planets might evolve billions of years into the future.

But the calculated chances of such events occurring are tiny.

Writing in the journal Nature, a team led by Jacques Laskar shows there is also a chance Mercury could strike Venus and merge into a larger planet.

Professor Laskar of the Paris Observatory and his colleagues also report that Mars might experience a close encounter with Jupiter - whose massive gravity could hurl the Red Planet out of our Solar System.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8093005.stm

[IndianaGreen]

1. But the Mayan calendar says we will be doomed in 2012....

On a serious note, the Moon is pulling away from us an inch a year. One of these days the Moon will break free from Earth orbit, never to be seen again. No more Ramadan!

[pokerfan]

2. I understand that any system with more than two bodies is essentially chaotic

I had a simulator once that was a lot of fun to play with. You'd think you have a perfectly cromulent solar system and all of a sudden, something goes haywire resulting in a collision or a planet getting ejected.