Big asteroid impact

[Skyryder]

http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=o8qoa36nw5


Skyryder

[Patrick]

Cool... Could be worse, like Helen getting voted in again...

[Skyryder]

There's a big mother on it's way. I'll b e dead and gone but some here will be around.

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/apophis/


Skyyrder

[Winston001]

Good video, just a bit Hollywood for my taste That is a ginormous asteroid, bigger than the one which hit the Yucatan and wiped out the dinosaurs. Possible but not probable.

"This type of astronomical collision is not new. In fact on earth, there are many craters that prove that astronomical collisions have happened. Consider these: Amguid Crater in Algeria which is 0.45 km wide; Keurusselkä crater in Finland which is 30 km wide; Sobolev crater in Russia which is 0.053 km wide; Strangways crater in Northern Territory which is 25 km wide; Gusev crater in Russia which is 3 km wide; Oasis Crater in Libya which is 18 km wide; Campo del Cielo crater in Argentina which is 0.05 km wide; Haviland crater in Kansas which is 0.015 km wide."

[rainman]

http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=o8qoa36nw5

Nice vid. Although I think leaving the greek pillars and Big Ben standing at the end is a bit fanciful.

Cool... Could be worse, like Helen getting voted in again...

Oh FFS I think I'll just go for a very very long ride until after the elections....

[Winston001]

Near Earth Objects or NEOs as they are called are very interesting because they are the group of potential objects which could collide with the Earth. NEOs are asteroids and small comets which roughly share and cross the same part of space as Earth.

They are also relatively unknown because there are so many of them. This is where hard practical science is carried out by the amateur astronomer. Hubble, Mauna Kea etc are giant deep space telescopes where every minute is booked for research. They don't look around our local system.

So a guy with his 150mm Meade in his backyard can find and observe an NEO and load up the observations on the net. Another guy in South Africa/Chile/Australia will load up his observations of the same object and thus over time an orbit, size, shape, rotation, etc etc is arrived at. Fascinating and nothing more than enthusiasm, an accurate watch, and a scope required.

[JimO]

Bruce Willis will sort that shit out

[McJim]

What's the problem? The Earth is still there and the asteroid got completely wasted eh? Earth 1 Asteroid nil - Go the Earth! :

[Skyryder]

I plug into this on occasions. There's a java run orbital diagram taht gives the time and date of any asteroid and the distance in AU.

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ca/


Skyrder