In a weeks time, on the 29th September, there is a rather large rock coming very close to Earth - it’s the asteroid Toutatis which is 3 miles long and 1.5 miles wide and weighs about 50 billion tons. By close that means around 960,000 miles which is close in astronomical terms. While being that close is not likely to be a danger to us this time, the orbit of Toutatis brings it past the Earth every 4 years, and recent distances have been 2,244,774miles in 1992, 3,293,452miles in 1996, 6,866,209miles in 2000 and 962,951miles this year, which seems very erratic to me and lets hope in 4 years time it’s not 0miles! While it’s not worth getting excited about this year, not even watching it cross the sky unless you are in Australia, it’s worth being aware of the danger of near Earth objects and understanding it is possible Earth could be hit by one - meteors enter the Earths atmosphere all the time, and most burn up before they hit Earth, but many do hit and have caused considerable devastation in the past - imagine what a 3 mile long 50ton lump of nickel and iron could do if it hit us!
chris Posts: 1405
Posted: 22.Sep 2004 - 13:58
I'll put that on my list of things to worry about.
I think there's a space between Anthrax attack and rising sea levels!
Kate
Posts: 195
Posted: 22.Sep 2004 - 14:00
Come on Barry, you've been watching too many Bruce Willis films.
The chances are remote and anyway, I read somewhere that America is the most likely country to be hit by an asteriod because there are more cars there. Asteroids are magnetic and so America would pull the meteor in.
Actually what is the difference between a meteor and an asteroid?
BarryLH4 Posts: 107
Posted: 22.Sep 2004 - 14:19
Kate, it may not be worth worrying about this one as I said, but it is good to be aware of the problem and consider what could be done in the future. While I have very little love of nuclear or other weapons, it would be a better use of them to blow up objects that do come in on a collision course with Earth than try to kill each other on this planet with them.
These things do happen - remember the comet that crashed into Jupiter a few years back, what if it had been Earth? About 100 years ago a small asteroid or meteor devastated a large area of Siberia - imagine if that had been London or some other large city.
The basic difference between a meteor and asteroid is size, the asteroid is larger - a sort of small planet.
Masterclass
Posts: 941
Posted: 6.Oct 2004 - 08:31
ROFL
Brian
Posts: 196
Posted: 6.Oct 2004 - 09:52
Masterclass - what's a ROFL?
Red orbiting fluffy llama?
Real orgasms from love?
AndyQ
Posts: 733
Posted: 6.Oct 2004 - 11:26
No, it's meant to be ROLF, but he's dyslexic, LOL.
Masterclass
Posts: 941
Posted: 7.Oct 2004 - 08:20
'Rolling on the floor laughing'.
I was very amused about America being hit as it has more cars.
troll
Posts: 567
Posted: 10.Oct 2004 - 18:08
If anything I think the cars would be more likely to be pulled off the earth and onto the asteroid.
xxxxxx
Posts: 2305
Posted: 10.Oct 2004 - 22:28
It's the size of those lard arsed Yanks distorting the rotation of the earth that's going to put them in its path!
BarryLH4 Posts: 107
Posted: 11.Oct 2004 - 17:01
Yes but isn't that countered by the hot air coming from Bush and his followers?
AndyQ
Posts: 733
Posted: 11.Oct 2004 - 21:42
Well i think the Bush administration has done one hell of a lot to contribute towards the end of the world.
TeachUS
Posts: 6
Posted: 28.Feb 2005 - 15:24
No truth whatsoever to the whole cars and magnetism thing. The asteroid is like a bullet. It's going to hit whatever is in its path and magnetism will have nothing to do with it. The most likely place for a strike is an ocean.
Why even worry about it to begin with? It's out of our control. Nuclear missiles wouldn't do a thing against something of that size. One scientist equated shooting an asteroid (in space or atmosphere) with a nuclear warhead to trying to shoot one bullet out of the sky with another. Next to impossible.
I would actually welcome the change. Let's see if rats and roaches can do a better job of running the planet.
Stan
Posts: 72
Posted: 28.Feb 2005 - 16:27
They already are running the world. They're called Bush and Blair!
