We confess we were a little bit freaked when we found out earlier this week that an asteroid the size of a "double decker bus" was aiming toward Planet Earth on Tuesday:
• Asteroid to skim past EarthFortunately, the scientists were proven right; and this asteroid missed us by a whisker. Now that it's Saturday, we'll presume we earthlings dodged a bullet on this.
Being the curious type though, we googled, to find out how vulnerable we may be to future meteor collisions and found this, an intriguing video piece which chronicles meteorite discoveries from 1980 to date:
• Asteroid Discovery From 1980 - 2010Fascinating, no?
Headgear, anyone?
10 comments:
Meteors are the will of god; nothing to fear.
When musing on the End of It All, I figure given sufficient time, the odds are human life or at least Civilization As We Know It will be ended by one of two natural occurances: (a) asteroid strike of sufficient size. We know it's happened at least once in earth history, and some evidence indicates more than once, or (b) eruption of another mega-volcano [e.g. the sort that created the Yellowstone caldera]. That probably would not take out all human life, but likely Civilization As We Know it would likely not survive the global consequences.
Have a nice day!
Galaxy Song - Monty Python - The Meaning Of Life
Whiling away a few idle moments, I read the story Rudi linked to. Couple of interesting details. "Close" meant 28,000 miles away --- a mere whisker's breadth by astronomical standards, I know, but still. And even if this one had hit us head on, it would have burned up entirely in the atmosphere and not reached the surface of the earth, the story reports.
And there was this: "experts...named the asteroid 2010 TD54." Wow! There's a moniker sure to catch the eyes of the press and go viral on the web. 2010TD54. I wonder who has the tee-shirt license?
Methinks asteroid scientists need to take a remedial class or two in naming techniques if they want to get off the inside pages. "Megaron II Asteroid Probably To Miss Earth Scientists Say" will work a lot better than "Near Miss by 2010TD4!"
Deteriorata slide show
I agree with Crum on the end of Earth. It may not be for a while though.
“Sometimes I think we’re alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we’re not. In either case the idea is quite staggering.”
Arthur C. Clarke
If a star of sufficient size, were to explode in our galaxy, its radiation would kill us all without warning.
In other words, if a star of sufficient size, 100 light years away detonated exactly 100 years ago tomorrow, then tomorrow, all life on earth will end, without warning.
Asteroids? Small potatoes.
Live. Don't put off the things that matter. Life is a gift.
BTW, loved the vid.
Thanks Danny, that will help me sleep better tonight.
Now we know who killed Kennedy: it was an asteroid.
Would you call that the "single asteroid theory?"
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