Asteroid size of Gibraltar

[jmorgan]

Duck!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/04/19/larg...

OK, a bit far out but........

[Eric Mc]

Only four times further than the moon.

[jmorgan]

Aye, but we knew this one was there....

[XM5ER]

There seem to be quite a few asteroids and comets shaped like this, I wonder if there is an underlying reason?

[Eric Mc]

I can think of two.

[Boring_Chris]

ash73 said:

The "at a glance" box at the foot of the article is interesting, the most worrying thing is it says "current space technology would require a four-year advance warning in order to prepare any sort of intercept mission." We'd better get on with improving on that.

Whilst watching that documentary featuring Bruce Willis and his mates blowing up a planet killing asteroid, the clever clever man with the British accent suggested that merely smashing it with a couple of nuclear warheads would risk turning one falling object into many... (that quote might have been from War of the Worlds featuring Will Smith? Anyways... )

... what's to problem with simply hoying a couple mega bombs up there and literally smashing one to bits? The 'bits' should then be small enough to burn up in the atmosphere?

Can anyone pick holes in my logic? Or am I now smarter than Bruce Willis / Will Smith / NASA?

[LimaDelta]

Can we give it to the Spanish?

[AshVX220]

XM5ER said:

There seem to be quite a few asteroids and comets shaped like this, I wonder if there is an underlying reason?

I'm guessing two objects hit each other with sufficient energy to fuse them together.

[Roofless Toothless]

AshVX220 said:

XM5ER said:

There seem to be quite a few asteroids and comets shaped like this, I wonder if there is an underlying reason?

I'm guessing two objects hit each other with sufficient energy to fuse them together.

Funny how the left one's always bigger.