Asteroid warning for 2014

iGav · Sep 2, 2003

I was watching something on Discovery about a similar thing.... personally I'm not entirely convinced we can do anything about these kind of things....

Now do I start saving to go up with the Russians in 2014??? heh!

here...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3200019.stm

or full article below...

The British agency responsible for identifying potentially hazardous asteroids says US astronomers are warning of a possible collision in 2014.

The UK Government's Near Earth Object Centre says American astronomers have discovered a large, fast-approaching asteroid that could hit the Earth on 21 March, 2014.

But they add the chances of it doing so are just one in 909,000.

What is more, any risk of an impact is likely to decrease as further data is gathered, they say.

The BBC's science correspondent Christine McGourty says that, although the chances this asteroid will hit the Earth are slim, it is considered worth monitoring due to its sheer size and velocity.

The rock is said to measure approximately two thirds of a mile across - only one tenth of the size of the meteor thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

It is travelling at a speed of about 20 miles per second.

"In theory such an asteroid could cause devastation across an entire continent," Christine McGourty says.

It has been labelled "2003 QQ 47" and astronomers will be monitoring it closely for the next two months

Veldek · Sep 2, 2003

My guess is that if it is really a threat, then it should be possible to find something against it in 11 years...

cr2sh · Sep 2, 2003

This isnt going to affect my g5 order.. is it?

Wouldn't it be great if it wiped out like 3/4 of the population of the world but left remote places (like my apartment) untouched.. then I could run around and buy stuff and breed with that chick downstairs. Man that'd be great.

Mr. Anderson · Sep 2, 2003

We've had a few of these over the years, and it ends up that further observation shows that it will miss.

It would be fun to have a near miss so we could see it with the unaided eye, though.

Also, if it is determined that the space rock will hit the planet, then it shouldn't be too difficult to get something up there to move it a little now so that it will miss us in 2014. You won't need to blow it up, just give it something to nudge it a bit.

D

iGav · Sep 2, 2003

Originally posted by cr2sh
then I could run around and buy stuff and breed with that chick downstairs. Man that'd be great.

it's called karma mate, and if you want it with this girl that bad, then you just know it's gonna hit your appartment square on!! heh-heh!!

rt_brained · Sep 2, 2003

What if like at the last moment, we got a bunch of people to focus their laser light pens at this thing at the exact same time?

Man, that would look so cool.

Mr. Anderson · Sep 2, 2003

Originally posted by rt_brained
What if like at the last moment, we got a bunch of people to focus their laser light pens at this thing at the exact same time?

Man, that would look so cool.

Ha, someone tried that with the moon and if failed miserably.....

And it would have to be very close to be big enough to see that sort of thing.....probably too close in that case and you'd have other things to worry about.

D

iGav · Sep 2, 2003

Originally posted by Mr. Anderson

And it would have to be very close to be big enough to see that sort of thing.....probably too close in that case and you'd have other things to worry about.

D

heh-heh-heh.....

D, you seem quite clued up on Space and Space tech... could we really do something about an asteroid of that size and moving at 20 miles a second??

The Discovery show I watched suggested a solution involving attaching machines that are powered by the Sun and gradually affect the course of the object over a period of many years... yet they mentioned that we'd need alot of notice to even implement something like this, where as if we got a couple of years notice, it wouldn't be enough and it's sayonara basically...

Unless Bruce Willis is available that is.... heh-heh!

Mr. Anderson · Sep 2, 2003

Given the time frame, it wouldn't be as big a problem. And with the orbits and gravitational influences its quite easy to make a small push that has even greater effects.

If it is a near earth orbiting asteroid, chances are that it has an orbit around the sun or earth that will bring it close several times before 2014. By using the moon and earth's gravitational fields, you can get a boost or deflection. You just need to time it right, which means making a small change of the trajectory/orbit and let the planets do the rest.

And there are a few ways of doing this over long periods of time (years).

D

iGav · Sep 2, 2003

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3200019.stm

They're playing down the danger now... this is what I like to hear... *phew*

I daren't venture anywhere near Piccadilly Circus just incase it was full of the sandwichboard men and the old "The End Is Nigh" thing....

Mr. Anderson · Sep 2, 2003

I wish I had my StarryNight Pro software up and running. They might have updated the database and put that asteroid in the thing. I'll check at home later and maybe post an image or two.

I think its basically too soon to know, but with more measurements they have a much better idea and then they can run the simulations and see what happens.

D

Sayhey · Sep 2, 2003

Don't we just have to get Ben Afflack, Bruce Willis and Liv Tyler on the case? Don't you think humanity is safe and secure in their hands?

Sorry, it just is one of the movies on my "10 worst movies ever" list!

cr2sh · Sep 2, 2003

Originally posted by iGAV
They're playing down the danger now...

So I don't get to do the chick downstairs?

Posting at work.. wow, I dunno what else I would be doing if it weren't for macrumors.

Mr. Anderson · Sep 2, 2003

Originally posted by cr2sh
So I don't get to do the chick downstairs?

well, would you even know where she's going to be in 2014? That's a long time, maybe you should just convince her that you should get together before anything bad happens anyway

mactastic · Sep 2, 2003

So that chicken little character was right after all... the sky IS falling!

Well at least we have a decade to figure out what to do. The nightmare scenario is something that comes out of deep space from behind another body, such that we only have a few months notice or less.

tpjunkie · Sep 2, 2003

Besides, the chick downstairs may be hot now, but what about in 11 years?

cr2sh · Sep 2, 2003

There will always be a hot chick downstairs, it doesn't have to be the same girl.

Nothing like a brush with armagedon to make you realize you should "get it on" more often.
Nothing like a "I have question" thread to make you rethink the possibly insensative sexual nature of your posts...

cr2sh · Sep 2, 2003

Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
maybe you should just convince her that you should get together before anything bad happens anyway

That would be a great pickup line "Excuse me, I think we should have sex before something bad happens to you... oh, and have you met my friend? Mr. Stabby McStabstuff"

I'll just continue staring at her from behind closed curtains.. uhh... i mean... nevermind. Pretend I didn't say that.

iGav · Sep 2, 2003

Originally posted by cr2sh
I'll just continue staring at her from behind closed curtains.. uhh... i mean... nevermind. Pretend I didn't say that.

I was waiting for you to say "peeping through the the hole I drilled in my floor, which happens to be, and luck would have it, her ceiling... and not just any ceiling but her bathroom ceiling..." heh-heh-heh!!

mactastic · Sep 3, 2003

Looks like it was a false alarm...

Link

ASTEROID 2003 QQ47 was first observed on Aug. 24, and based on limited data, experts at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory estimated as of early Tuesday that there was a tiny chance 1 in 909,000 that the space rock would smash into Earth on March 21, 2014.

Observations gathered on Monday night, however, allowed astronomers to plot the asteroids orbital course more precisely. By Tuesday evening, the risk for 2014 was eliminated. JPL said there was still a 1-in-2.2 million chance that an impact could occur sometime in the next century, but that is far below the background risk of a catastrophic collision in any given year.

Mr. Anderson · Sep 3, 2003

This is like the 3rd or 4th one of these warnings that has eventually been down played. Why even give warning until you actually know if it will hit or not - at the time scale they're dealing with, a couple months of observations make a huge difference.

If it gets to be a 'crying wolf' situation, no one is ever going to take this serious...

D

mactastic · Sep 3, 2003

The sky is falling... The sky is falling...

Asteroid warning for 2014

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