... So I hear March 2 was a close call...

[Freohr Datia]

Did anyone else hear of that asteroid that almost hit Earth? It came closer to us than the moon is. I also heard it was the size of a... idk... I think it was a 45 story building?... idk...

discuss!!! =o

[lolDeath]

Have a link? I heard nothing of this.

[Not Changed by VASM :(]

Have a link? I heard nothing of this.

Death heard nothing of this, we must be safe.

[California Mountain Snake]

NYT article

The moon however, is acutally a long fucking way from Earth, farther than most people think.

[illustrative rendering]

Edited March 5, 2009 by Black Knight

[Fia]

Not much, but still...

Oh, and also this one.

Edited March 5, 2009 by Ishtar

[Raven]

I have heard nothing... Couldn't have been that bad, then... Disappointing...

[Zanarkin]

Aweesome i wish i could have seen it

[Freohr Datia]

Pretty much the big problem is that scientists never spotted it coming.

And that's what they've been trying to do for a while. They want to keep track of these things so that if one is heading for Earth, we will be forwarned. But if they missed this one... who knows how much trouble we can get in. One could just suddenly be heading towards us right now and it could be possible that we will never know until it's too late.

[uguu]

Pretty much the big problem is that scientists never spotted it coming.

And that's what they've been trying to do for a while. They want to keep track of these things so that if one is heading for Earth, we will be forwarned. But if they missed this one... who knows how much trouble we can get in. One could just suddenly be heading towards us right now and it could be possible that we will never know until it's too late.

If we don't know we'll die

If we do know we'll still die, except some people will commit suicide because they don't wanna be killed by a meteor

Edit: And don't even mention Armageddon

Edited March 5, 2009 by Destiny Bundle of Sticks

[Mufasa]

NYT article

The moon however, is acutally a long fucking way from Earth, farther than most people think.

[illustrative rendering]

Well, even though the moon is quite far from us, in the grand shceme of things, that's fairly close.

It would have been quite exciting if it hit. It would have gotten me out of that car accident today.

[California Mountain Snake]

Pretty much the big problem is that scientists never spotted it coming.

And that's what they've been trying to do for a while. They want to keep track of these things so that if one is heading for Earth, we will be forwarned. But if they missed this one... who knows how much trouble we can get in. One could just suddenly be heading towards us right now and it could be possible that we will never know until it's too late.

The odds of an asteroid striking or causing a significant air blast above heavily populated areas is astonomically unlikely, especially considering noteworth impacts occur only several hundred years and are extremely likley to hit in the middle of nowhere.

This is kind of one of those things that we can't really do anything about, and it's no use getting worried over, since you're literally millions of times more likely to die by getting struck by a bolt of lightning or other freak occurrences.

Edited March 5, 2009 by Black Knight

[Freohr Datia]

Well, even though the moon is quite far from us, in the grand shceme of things, that's fairly close.

It would have been quite exciting if it hit. It would have gotten me out of that car accident today.

My dad said that a meteor the same size destroyed... idk how much... it hit Siberia though (I think that's a country XD)

But by the destruction he said it had made... I would not want that hitting us =/

And, yeah, that is close. When it was far away and still heading towards us, it could very very easily be pulled by Earth's gravity. So... yeah, closer than the moon is close.

[Freohr Datia]

The odds of an asteroid striking or causing a significant air blast above heavily populated areas is astonomically unlikely, especially considering noteworth impacts occur only several hundred years and are extremely likley to hit in the middle of nowhere.

This is kind of one of those things that we can't really do anything about, and it's no use getting worried over, since you're literally millions of times more likely to die by getting struck by a bolt of lightning or other freak occurrences.

yeah, I know it's unlikely.

I do know that sometimes, if it was knocked off its path, others could've followed it (like if it was a piece knocked off a comet... then others chunks of it could've followed it).

I'm not too worried about it... It's just got me thinking... or is that worrying about it? XD

plus, excuse the double-post please... kinda thought someone else might've posted by then XD

Edited March 5, 2009 by Freohr Datia

[California Mountain Snake]

My dad said that a meteor the same size destroyed... idk how much... it hit Siberia though (I think that's a country XD)

That's what I linked to earlier.

Again, fearing this happening is like fearing your going to get mauled by a tiger in the city. Sure, once in a great while a tiger gets out of the zoo, but it's something that's never going to happen to you, and honestly you should have bigger concerns in life than fearing evey 1:6,000,000,000 chance out there.

[Inactive Account]

This strikes me as weird because they actually have identified some other meteors that will come close to the Earth, and yet they didn't see this one coming.

My dad said that a meteor the same size destroyed... idk how much... it hit Siberia though (I think that's a country XD)

But by the destruction he said it had made... I would not want that hitting us =/

Perhaps you're referring to the Tunguska Event? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event They're not actually sure what caused it, but space debris is a likely answer. Edit: Gah, BK beat me to it.

And, yeah, that is close. When it was far away and still heading towards us, it could very very easily be pulled by Earth's gravity. So... yeah, closer than the moon is close.

True. Also, if something were to hit the moon rather than the planet, we'd still be screwed. It's doubtful that the moon would be bounced directly into the Earth, but if its orbit were altered, we'd get major issues with tides and maybe volcanoes.

Are we scared yet? :D

...All hail National Geographic and Wikipedia.

Edited March 5, 2009 by _____

[Freohr Datia]

That's what I linked to earlier.

Again, fearing this happening is like fearing your going to get mauled by a tiger in the city. Sure, once in a great while a tiger gets out of the zoo, but it's something that's never going to happen to you, and honestly you should have bigger concerns in life than fearing evey 1:6,000,000,000 chance out there.

s'not very good if you completely ignore it either though...

And so that's why scientists keep an eye out for these things =)

[Inactive Account]

s'not very good if you completely ignore it either though...

And so that's why scientists keep an eye out for these things =)

Considering the odds and the fact that if it happens, we won't be able to do anything about it, I'd let the scientists worry about it and personally forget about it.

[Mufasa]

What scares me, is where do these scientists get their math from? Like, if they screwed something like this up, who knows what else they might have screwed up.

I'd hate to wake up one day and watch as the sun turns into a red giant.

[California Mountain Snake]

s'not very good if you completely ignore it either though...

Yeah, it is good to ignore it.

It's unhealthy to worry about, and accepting the fact that we could die at any second actually serves as good motivation to live well, rather than fear death. It's a good lesson in perspective that we can never control everything.

So yeah, I'm pretty good ignoring these things. Life has been on Earth through several billion years, I'm sure it's probably not going to disappear in my lifetime, and if it does, is there anything I can do about it? No. So there's no use is there in worrying about it. I've got better ways to spend my day.

Edited March 5, 2009 by Black Knight

[Inactive Account]

What scares me, is where do these scientists get their math from? Like, if they screwed something like this up, who knows what else they might have screwed up.

I'd hate to wake up one day and watch as the sun turns into a red giant.

I'd be skeptical about going off of laws based on observations made some hundreds of years ago, except they keep finding new ways to prove that the laws are sound. I don't think they screwed this up per se; they probably didn't have the equipment to detect the asteroid any earlier (it was detected in the end of Feb). And of course, there didn't used to be any such equipment at all, and we're all still here.

As for the sun dying, you don't have to worry about that, they've managed to figure out from actual observations of other stars and such that that won't be for a good long time. They haven't found anything about our sun that would make it behave differently from other stars.

[Mufasa]

I'd be skeptical about going off of laws based on observations made some hundreds of years ago, except they keep finding new ways to prove that the laws are sound. I don't think they screwed this up per se; they probably didn't have the equipment to detect the asteroid any earlier (it was detected in the end of Feb). And of course, there didn't used to be any such equipment at all, and we're all still here.

As for the sun dying, you don't have to worry about that, they've managed to figure out from actual observations of other stars and such that that won't be for a good long time. They haven't found anything about our sun that would make it behave differently from other stars.

Well of course. But still. Who knows when something will hit us, or kill is. All within an instant.

[Freohr Datia]

Considering the odds and the fact that if it happens, we won't be able to do anything about it, I'd let the scientists worry about it and personally forget about it.

Actually, there is something that people can do.

When scientists spot them, they should be able to tell where they are likely to land. If it is likely to land in water, we can have time to evacuate people on the coastal regions. The deaths should greatly decrease if we can get ourselves enough time to do that.

Why do I have so much knowledge all of a sudden?... cause I read it in a book =D

If I had not read the book, I would never have considered this.

[Inactive Account]

Well, you've also got to consider how many people will actually believe it when the scientists say the sky is falling. Despite what we'd like to think, there's plently of people out there who don't really believe modern science.

[Mufasa]

Well, you've also got to consider how many people will actually believe it when the scientists say the sky is falling. Despite what we'd like to think, there's plently of people out there who don't really believe modern science.

True. This gives me an idea for another topic.

*Goes to make another topic.*

[Freohr Datia]

Well, you've also got to consider how many people will actually believe it when the scientists say the sky is falling. Despite what we'd like to think, there's plently of people out there who don't really believe modern science.

lol, that would be a big problem wouldn't it? XD

(that's exactly what happened in the story. There were people who didn't believe it... but it was a Science fiction story. They had dragons who could go back in time, so they gave themselves enough time to evacuate people. There were these people who didn't believe the falling rock was of any danger until they felt the shock wave. =D)