We almost died again

[Huge]

Pesky asteroids...

http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/01/07/killer.asteroid/index.html

 

[Gonzo]

I didn't read the story you posted because I heard about it on the news. The scary part is, in astronomical terms, it came very close to us (500,000 miles) and it wasn't discovreed until 12/26/01. (or somewhere around there)....


look, the ice age cometh again-if we don't improve our space accuracy

 

[s4]

That's just what I needed to hear first thing in the morning.

*s4 reaches for alka-selzer

 

[unclehobart]

*points an accusing finger at the sky*

C'mon, universe! Is that the best you can do? You couldn't hit a barn with a shotgun .... even if you were standing inside of it at the time. Neener, neener .... universe is a weiner. Can't hit me!

 

[Q]

*breathes a HUGE sigh of relief* ...that Huge posted a we're all gonna die story.

 

[Neo]

I heard this this morning on the way to work. I thought of the movie armegeddon. Hopefully i wouldnt be the one they chose to go up there.

 

[fury]

Wow. 500,000 miles is like this -> || <- close to hitting us

 

[Gonzo]

NEO, even if we had the technology to stop it, would 2 weeks have been enough? I say, let's discover these things YEARS ahead of a potential, or actual impact.

 

[unclehobart]

Spare me the chicken little rhetoric. The Earth has a diameter of 8,000 miles. The moon is 239,227 miles away. The asteroid split that distance and missed by roughly 120,000 miles. Thats a miss by the distance of 15 full earth widths. I dont even consider that to be in the same ballpark.

 

[flavio]

Lucifers's hammer

 

[Professur]

Looking's just a waste of time. We'll never see the one that hits us.

 

[patweb]

Aw, it was nothing. The article said it would have hit France anyway, who cares...














(yes, I read it and, yes, I am joking.)

 

[kuulani]

...
(yes, I read it and, yes, I am joking.)

I just hope it doesn't happen in our lifetime.

 

[Djcake]

I didn't read the story you posted because I heard about it on the news. The scary part is, in astronomical terms, it came very close to us (500,000 miles)

it was closer then that..

The range might seem like enough to breath easy, about 600,000 km (375,000 miles), but many scientists classify it as a relatively close call.

 

[Professur]

...
(yes, I read it and, yes, I am joking.)

I just hope it doesn't happen in our lifetime.

The taking out of France? I hope it does. If it wrecks the rest of Europe ... well, that's the price of world improvement.














(yes I read it, and no, I'm not joking.)

 

[Gonzo]

Aw, it was nothing. The article said it would have hit France anyway, who cares...

The last ice age & death of the dinosaurs was (theoretically) caused by one that hit Southern Mexico. France was smacked around then too

Unc, in a multibillion light year universe, 500k or 375k or even 1000k is awfully close for us to not have discovered it before we did.

 

[unclehobart]

Its a fast moving dark rock in a dark sky passing near a planet bathed in tons of atmospheric and light distortion ...not to mention all of the space junk we have floating around up there. Its a wonder that we se anything at all.