Asteroid to strike near Puerto Rico? Not true, says NASA

The rumors flying around Twitter, YouTube and other corners of the Internet about a giant asteroid striking Earth? Total nonsense, according to NASA.

The erroneous story varies, but mostly it goes like this: an asteroid will hit near Puerto Rico between Sept. 15 and 28, 2015, and destroy much of the Southeastern United States, the Gulf Coast of Mexico, and parts of Central and South America.

“There is no scientific basis — not one shred of evidence — that an asteroid or any other celestial object will impact Earth on those dates,” Paul Chodas, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object office, said in a statement.

Yes, NASA is always keeping an eye out for “potentially hazardous asteroids,” and it turns out there is a 0.01 percent chance that one will hit Earth in the next 100 years.

How do they know? NASA spends around $40 million a year tracking asteroids and other near-Earth objects, both for research purposes and to make sure that killer space objects doesn’t catch us by surprise.

There are also many telescopes scanning the sky from various organizations, and none of them has spotted an asteroid headed toward Puerto Rico.

“If there were any object large enough to do that type of destruction in September,” Chodas said, “we would have seen something of it by now.”



By Keith Wagstaff

The superstructure up top and the dish below are the primary instruments of the world's largest radio telescope, currently undergoing a paintjob, near Arecibo, Puerto Rico, May 31, 2007. 

Photo by Brennan Linsley/AP

 

Asteroid to strike near Puerto Rico? Not true, says NASA

Authorities investigate destruction of turtle eggs on Puerto Rico beach

Environmental agencies in Puerto Rico are investigating the destruction of 99 eggs of the endangered leatherback turtle that were found in a nest on a beach in San Juan, activist Deborah Feliciano told EFE Friday.

Feliciano, a member of the government-sponsored 7 Quillas group that is charged with keeping watch on the beaches of Condado and Ocean Park, found that the eggs were rotten, the nest was inundated with water, and there was a distinct smell of excrement in the air.

She said the group reported the situation to Puerto Rico's Natural Resources Department, or DRNA, and to the Board of Environmental Quality.

The spokeswoman for 7 Quillas, the DRNA unit that protects sea turtles on the island, said the San Juan municipality also made tests Friday in the sewage system at Condado Beach to find out how the contaminated water was able to flood the nest.

She also said that DRNA marine biologist Carlos Diez found that the eggs contained undeveloped embryos.

"There were no turtles in the development stage, which for us is very odd," Feliciano said, while expressing her concern about the crowds of people on the beach where the nest was located.

In this hatching season, 1,125 leatherbacks have been released on the beaches of Ocean Park and Condado, and three nests still remain.

This year a total of 28 nests have been reported in the area, a figure considerably higher than in other years.

Feliciano also expressed her concern for the great quantities of seaweed on the beaches of Puerto Rico, which have affected the hatching process in a nest on Condado Beach and impeded the arrival of other leatherbacks on the coast.

"The seaweed affected us for two or three weeks. We found turtles tangled up in it, but with the help of the DRNA we managed to clean the area every day," she said. EFE

Authorities investigate destruction of turtle eggs on Puerto Rico beach