Asteroids pass us by.

[jbudgie]

http://www.space.com/15043-small-asteroids-earth-c...


They said they were small, but seem big enough to me to have done quite a bit of damage .

One the size of a bus and the other the size of a car !!

[onesickpuppy]

From reading the article the reason they weren't too concerned about potential damage was that they aren't big enough to make it through our atmosphere. Still a pretty scary thought though!

[Eric Mc]

onesickpuppy said:

From reading the article the reason they weren't too concerned about potential damage was that they thought it would land on Basingstoke. Still a pretty scary thought though!

EFA

[onesickpuppy]

Eric Mc said:

onesickpuppy said:

From reading the article the reason they weren't too concerned about potential damage was that they thought it would land on Basingstoke. Still a pretty scary thought though!

EFA

[jbudgie]

onesickpuppy said:

From reading the article the reason they weren't too concerned about potential damage was that they aren't big enough to make it through our atmosphere. Still a pretty scary thought though!

From the size they quoted then i think they would have impacted the Earth.

[onesickpuppy]

jbudgie said:

From the size they quoted then i think they would have impacted the Earth.

Article said:

Their small size means they would likely not survive the fiery trip through Earth's atmosphere to reach the surface.

[jbudgie]

onesickpuppy said:

jbudgie said:

From the size they quoted then i think they would have impacted the Earth.

Article said:

Their small size means they would likely not survive the fiery trip through Earth's atmosphere to reach the surface.

Yes I know what it said, but dont believe that--do you ?


I have seen said that one of the big craters in Arizona was made by a 30 metre rock.

So i reckon a 9 metre rock would hit us as well.

Nine metres is a pretty big rock.

[onesickpuppy]

jbudgie said:

Yes I know what it said, but dont believe that--do you ?


I have seen said that one of the big craters in Arizona was made by a 30 metre rock.

So i reckon a 9 metre rock would hit us as well.

Nine metres is a pretty big rock.

But I think that the 30m rock probably started out as a 100m rock (I'm plucking figures out the air here ). I would hope that NASA have more of an idea than you or me (unless you're an astro-metorite-type expert or whatever. Are you?)

[jbudgie]

onesickpuppy said:

jbudgie said:

Yes I know what it said, but dont believe that--do you ?


I have seen said that one of the big craters in Arizona was made by a 30 metre rock.

So i reckon a 9 metre rock would hit us as well.

Nine metres is a pretty big rock.

But I think that the 30m rock probably started out as a 100m rock (I'm plucking figures out the air here ). I would hope that NASA have more of an idea than you or me (unless you're an astro-metorite-type expert or whatever. Are you?)

No mate I'm not an expert.


But do you think they would tell us if 'the big one' was on its way ?


If it was skimming the atmosphere it might burn up, but what if it was just plunging straight in?

[ewenm]

jbudgie said:

No mate I'm not an expert.


But do you think they would tell us if 'the big one' was on its way ?


If it was skimming the atmosphere it might burn up, but what if it was just plunging straight in?

Have you not seen the documentary "Armageddon"?

[mantis84]

If there was a 'big one' on the way, wouldn't 'they' just throw a few missiles at it and blow it up into lots of smaller pieces? As I understand it, the Bruce Willis Armageddon approach is a load of rubbish and we could just shoot at it from a distance and not have to worry too much.

[Eric Mc]

mantis84 said:

If there was a 'big one' on the way, wouldn't 'they' just throw a few missiles at it and blow it up into lots of smaller pieces? As I understand it, the Bruce Willis Armageddon approach is a load of rubbish and we could just shoot at it from a distance and not have to worry too much.

No.

[Simpo Two]

I expect the nature of the asteroid/meteorite would affect things too, eg rock, metal, aggregate etc.

[onesickpuppy]

Eric Mc said:

mantis84 said:

If there was a 'big one' on the way, wouldn't 'they' just throw a few missiles at it and blow it up into lots of smaller pieces? As I understand it, the Bruce Willis Armageddon approach is a load of rubbish and we could just shoot at it from a distance and not have to worry too much.

No.

Yes. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=567_1331659693

[mantis84]

Eric Mc said:

mantis84 said:

If there was a 'big one' on the way, wouldn't 'they' just throw a few missiles at it and blow it up into lots of smaller pieces? As I understand it, the Bruce Willis Armageddon approach is a load of rubbish and we could just shoot at it from a distance and not have to worry too much.

No.

Thanks for that. May I take this opportunity to congratulate you on your erudite, detailed and well thought-out response.

[mantis84]

onesickpuppy said:

Eric Mc said:

mantis84 said:

If there was a 'big one' on the way, wouldn't 'they' just throw a few missiles at it and blow it up into lots of smaller pieces? As I understand it, the Bruce Willis Armageddon approach is a load of rubbish and we could just shoot at it from a distance and not have to worry too much.

No.

Yes. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=567_1331659693

Thought so.

[Eric Mc]

mantis84 said:

Eric Mc said:

mantis84 said:

If there was a 'big one' on the way, wouldn't 'they' just throw a few missiles at it and blow it up into lots of smaller pieces? As I understand it, the Bruce Willis Armageddon approach is a load of rubbish and we could just shoot at it from a distance and not have to worry too much.

No.

Thanks for that. May I take this opportunity to congratulate you on your erudite, detailed and well thought-out response.

I thought that the topic has been covered so many times in schlocky TV "we're all gonna die" type documentaries that no further comment was needed.

Even if we could reconfigure and re-programme ICBMs to intercept and explode close to an incoming piece of rock, all the explosion MIGHT do (no one is sure as to what the effect would be) is partially break up the rock so that multiple smaller bits hit the earth rather than one larger piece.

The ability to do something about one of these pieces of rock is linked to how soon

a) the rock is detected
b) its trajectory analysed and confirmed

And even if these factors are discovered earlyish, it is still not sure how easy it would be to make the necessary changes to any available missile hardware and software to be able to do anything about it.

[jmorgan]

Here are the ones they know about that hit.... remember we have a lot of water on the planet.

http://www.passc.net/EarthImpactDatabase/index.htm...

[Simpo Two]

Eric Mc said:

all the explosion MIGHT do (no one is sure as to what the effect would be) is partially break up the rock so that multiple smaller bits hit the earth rather than one larger piece.

Yebbut - smaller pieces would be more likely to burn up in the atmosphere rather than reach the ground.

[Happy82]

Would a more 'polluted' atmosphere help burn the rocks up ? ie, should 'gas guzzling' cars receive an anti-asteroid tax rebate?