Thanks Las Vegas Dave.
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Posted on 02/29/2012 1:42:15 AM PST by Las Vegas Dave
Scientists are keeping a close eye on a big asteroid that may pose an impact threat to Earth in a few decades.
The space rock, which is called 2011 AG5, is about 460 feet (140 meters) wide. It may come close enough to Earth in 2040 that some researchers are calling for a discussion about how to deflect it.
Talk about the asteroid was on the agenda during the 49th session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), held earlier this month in Vienna.
Pinging.
FYI pings.
There has been several predictions in the past it always been false because of calculation errors.
If it slams into the mecca I’m gonna be okay with it.
A rock rocks the rock....
More here: http://news.discovery.com/space/asteroid-impact-hazard-2040-120228.html
< Snip >
The 460 feet (140 meter) wide space rock may pose a hazard in 2040, so researchers are calling for deflection plan discussions.
Asteroid 2011 AG5 was discovered in January 2011 by Mount Lemmon Survey astronomers in Tucson, Ariz.
Although it is currently considered “high risk,” we’ve only been watching it for half an orbit, so more observations are needed.
Scientists are keeping a close eye on a big asteroid that may pose an impact threat to Earth in a few decades.
The space rock, which is called 2011 AG5, is about 460 feet (140 meters) wide. It may come close enough to Earth in 2040 that some researchers are calling for a discussion about how to deflect it.
Talk about the asteroid was on the agenda during the 49th session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), held earlier this month in Vienna.
< /snip >
What, me worry?
I will be 96 then, but I suspect there will be plenty of technology by then to deflect or knock it out.
There has only been one successful forecast of an impact. when the asteroid 2008 TC3 was discovered. It was calculated that it would hit the Earth only 21 hours later. Luckily it had a diameter of only three metres and did not cause any damage.
Got to get the BIG ASSroid out of the White Hut first..
And I’m not talkin about the Wookie either..
Over 4 football fields across is sizeable but not an extinction event. Depending on the actual mass and impact speed, it would probably be between the equivilent of about a 40 and a 100 megaton explosion. The biggest nuke ever set off was 100 megatons, by the USSR. Those crazy Russians wiped out a good portion of Siberia just to see how big they could make one.
Tzar Bomba was 50 MT. It was scalable to 100 but they never tested it.
I’ll be dead and gone. Maybe that’s a good time for a reboot of everything. ;-)
This country will be dead and gone...this story has no relevance.
Not with Nasa shut down. I do expect there will be an effort to "tax" it somehow...
“Not with Nasa shut down. I do expect there will be an effort to “tax” it somehow.”
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Not to worry,
China will take care of it, if the world has not self destructed by then.
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/images/meteorcrater.html
[snip] The Meteor Crater in the state of Arizona was the first crater to be identified as an impact crater. Between 20,000 to 50,000 years ago, a small asteroid about 80 feet in diameter impacted the Earth and formed the crater. The crater is the best preserved crater on Earth and measures 1.2 km in diameter. [/snip]
“AG5, is about 460 feet (140 meters) wide.”
Pfft...that’s just a side show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlF8APEkh-E
At 140 meters, I’m not sure it would be worthy of an expensive effort in an attempt to move Heaven(quite literally) and Earth to avoid an impact from this thing. Not that I would want it landing in my neighborhood or anything, but chances are it will likely impact an unpopulated area(probably an ocean).
Then again, this might be good for a ‘practice run’, so we’ll know more for when a big one comes around.
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