schadeaux
Feb 25 2004, 04:23 PM
Astronomers have revealed how they came within minutes of alerting the world to a potential asteroid strike last month.
Some scientists believed on 13 January that a 30m object, later designated 2004 AS1, had a one-in-four chance of hitting the planet within 36 hours.
It could have caused local devastation and the researchers contemplated a call to President Bush before new data finally showed there was no danger.
The procedures for raising the alarm in such circumstances are now being revised.
At the time, the president's team would have been putting the final touches to a speech he was due to make the following day at the headquarters of Nasa, the US space agency.
In it he planned to reset the course of manned spaceflight, sending it back to the Moon and on to Mars, but he could have had something very different to say.
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BBC News
mowo
Feb 25 2004, 04:27 PM
Yes, he probably would have said, "Everythings fine, go to bed everyone and watch the new series of 'Friends', I..er...have an appointment"
PsychicPenguin
Feb 25 2004, 04:43 PM
Too bad it didn'ta happen
Fluffybunny
Feb 25 2004, 07:54 PM
I doubt seriousely that we would ever find out ahead of time that something big was going to happen.
What would the government do? tell everyone to evacuate? unless it is a super small asteroid that we can figure out exactly where it was going to hit in advance, it wouldn't do much good to start a panic...
stillcrazy
Feb 25 2004, 08:08 PM
Missed again. I gotta learn to aim better.
SilverCougar
Feb 25 2004, 08:13 PM
| QUOTE (stillcrazy @ Feb 25 2004, 07:08 PM) |
| Missed again. I gotta learn to aim better. |
Yeah no sh**.. how am I sposta hit the thing if you keep throwing it like that!!!
stillcrazy
Feb 25 2004, 08:22 PM
| QUOTE |
| Yeah no sh**.. how am I sposta hit the thing if you keep throwing it like that!!! |
LOL
Kismit
Feb 26 2004, 08:31 AM
| QUOTE (fluffybunny @ Feb 26 2004, 06:54 AM) |
What would the government do? tell everyone to evacuate? unless it is a super small asteroid that we can figure out exactly where it was going to hit in advance, it wouldn't do much good to start a panic... |
I have to disagree Fluffy the chances of a meteor hitting the earth capable of eliminating all life are as close to impossible as you can get . However the odds of one hitting the Earth capable of causing massive devastation are much better .
Perhaps If I where to be warned an asteroid was just about to hit , I would be given the chance to run for the hills with my kids , before the aftershock caused a Tsunami . Unless of course the meteor landed up in the hills which might make things a little awkward .
smallpackage
Feb 26 2004, 12:09 PM
hmm, then how did the dinosaurs die? well I think they just died off from evolution or the iceage. Not a meteor. Unless it was the size of like the US.
PsychicPenguin
Feb 26 2004, 02:24 PM
Dinosaurs were not killed by the impact, but because of the global, sudden climate change that the impact cause.
Kismit
Feb 27 2004, 04:10 AM
| QUOTE |
| hmm, then how did the dinosaurs die? well I think they just died off from evolution or the iceage. Not a meteor. Unless it was the size of like the US. |
I believe the most common theory is a shower of meteors , however I may and will be corrected if I am wrong , the theory states that not all the Dinosaurs where distroyed , the smaller ones managed to escape because they needed less food to survive on giving them more time to adapt to the changing climates .
That's why I said
| QUOTE |
| a meteor hitting the earth capable of eliminating all life |
Life still exsisted afterwards we are all arguably living proof .
Athlon64
Feb 27 2004, 10:47 AM
Smallpackage,
An asteroid does not have to be very large (when compared to Earth) to cause a global catastrophe. The object that caused the demise of the dinosaurs was probably only 15 kilometres in diameter. That is HUGE for an Earth impactor, but very small when compared to the size of our planet.
strichar
Feb 27 2004, 10:54 AM
| QUOTE (Kismit @ Feb 27 2004, 03:10 AM) |
the theory states that not all the Dinosaurs where distroyed ,
Life still exsisted afterwards we are all arguably living proof . |
Sharks and crocodiles I think may be a better example of how not all dinos were killed off.
On another note, in theory, in order for an asteroid to destroy all life on earth it would have to be a little bigger than Alaska and hit ground not water.
Kismit
Feb 27 2004, 11:57 AM
| QUOTE |
| On another note, in theory, in order for an asteroid to destroy all life on earth it would have to be a little bigger than Alaska and hit ground not water. |
Dosen't the theory go ... It's not the original impact that causes the damage but the aftershocks, tidal waves , volcanic eruption , tutonic plate upsets , clouds of smoke that blacken the sky taking away the sunshine needed to produce photosynthesis and killing all vegetation and creating massive famines .
What kind of damage would a meteor the size of Alaska do ?
Naraya
Feb 27 2004, 06:16 PM
I think, considering how Toba's eruption almost wiped humanity off the planet, that a supervolcano did the job to the dinosaurs. And it could've easily been set off by a meteor impact...
So how's Yellowstone these days??
KayEl
Feb 27 2004, 11:33 PM
An asteroid the size of Alaska would have blown the Earth to bits and the planet would probably be either still coalescing back together or is an asteroid belt around the sun (what will happened to the moon in such an instance....will it now orbit the sun and be a new planet?). Asteroids do not have to be very large to cause a lot of damage; the danger lies in the speed they are traveling toward the earth.
Gazz
Feb 28 2004, 02:51 AM
Actually many experts believe that our
own moon was created by an impact.
The impact of a planet!
A planet the size of mars.. also that
without this impact and the creation of
the moon life on Earth may have never
happened... in fact They believe that
without this impact Earth would be much
more like Venus!
Most of the water we have in the oceans
they also believe came from impacts of
large icy commets.
The impact giveth and taketh away!
Gazz
Dowdy
Feb 28 2004, 03:08 AM
| QUOTE |
Some scientists believed on 13 January that a 30m object, later designated 2004 AS1, had a one-in-four chance of hitting the planet within 36 hours.
|
30m, that's nothing to worry about.
Kismit
Feb 29 2004, 03:36 AM
| QUOTE (KayEl @ Feb 28 2004, 10:33 AM) |
| An asteroid the size of Alaska would have blown the Earth to bits and the planet would probably be either still coalescing back together or is an asteroid belt around the sun (what will happened to the moon in such an instance....will it now orbit the sun and be a new planet?). Asteroids do not have to be very large to cause a lot of damage; the danger lies in the speed they are traveling toward the earth. |
Well in that case I would still like to be told so that I can make myself suitably numb for the experience ..
Athlon64
Mar 2 2004, 01:10 PM
| QUOTE |
| What kind of damage would a meteor the size of Alaska do ? |
An asteroid the size of Alaska would sterilise the planet.
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