Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2003 6:01 pm Posts: 16701 Location: On a slope
Asteroid Discoveries, 1980-2010
This is really cool. It's a video of the solar system that shows as we discovered new asteroids during the last 30 years. I highly recommend watching the 1080p version full screen, preferably with eerie music playing in the background. The x-com soundtrack works.
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Thu Aug 26, 2010 10:39 am
Mole
Minor Diety
Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2003 5:09 pm Posts: 4004 Location: Walsall, West Mids, UK
Re: Asteroid Discoveries, 1980-2010
That's pretty freaky, and I never really thought about it until I saw it in the video that we can only (easily and with less effort) discover things one one side of our solar system at a time.
Was interesting to see the rocket in discoveries as time went on too. Imagine if all of those asteroids headed toward earth at once...
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Thu Aug 26, 2010 12:04 pm
Satis
Felix Rex
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2003 6:01 pm Posts: 16701 Location: On a slope
Re: Asteroid Discoveries, 1980-2010
yea, it's kinda sobering to see how many freakin' asteroid there are out there in the solar system. By the time it gets to 2010, it's just a mess. The scary thing is, there are still ridiculous numbers that we're unaware of. Based on the video, it looks like we're lucky as hell we haven't been wiped out already.
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Thu Aug 26, 2010 2:13 pm
Rinox
Minor Diety
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 7:23 am Posts: 14892 Location: behind a good glass of Duvel
Re: Asteroid Discoveries, 1980-2010
Very cool vid.
As for being lucky...yes and no. Our entire existence and development is, cosmically speaking, a microsecond (if that). In those terms the odds of an asteroid not hitting us for this short time aren't astronomically small. Besides most of them have steady orbits. The 'stupid' thing is that if a sizeable asteroid was actually headed for earth we would very likely be able to spot it a while in advance, but we'd have no means of actually stopping it right now. That's a pretty bleak prospect. SO if the government starts announcing a Fallout-style Vault project then you know shit is up.
This is interesting btw, some general asteroid talk at the occasion of the Tunguska event's anniversary
The centennial anniversary of the last big impact, the 1908 Tunguska blast that rocked Siberia, falls Monday, June 30, bringing with it a reminder of the very slight chance that a hunk of space rock out there might have Earth's number.
The Tunguska "event" leveled nearly 800 square miles of swampy woodland in Siberia, traveling from the northwest to deliver a 5-megaton blast seen by hundreds of witnesses, including one who created a postage stamp of the explosion. A space rock about 50 yards long had zoomed into the Earth's atmosphere and exploded in
"People were knocked off their feet hundreds of miles away," writes astronomer Phil Plait in his upcoming book Death from the Skies! These are the Ways the World Will End. Years later, a scientific expedition to the remote region found trees knocked sideways in straight lines radiating 15 miles away from the blast.
Quote:
In terms of risk to Earth, astronomer David Morrison of NASA's Ames Research Center says a Tunguska-magnitude strike could happen once every two centuries and a bigger impact, a "civilization-threatening" million-megaton strike, could happen once every 2 million years. Even though astronomers have spotted more of these nearby asteroids in the last two decades, the estimated odds of an impact have actually declined, as Morrison notes in a May issue of NEO News, his asteroid newsletter.
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Sat Aug 28, 2010 6:07 am
Satis
Felix Rex
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2003 6:01 pm Posts: 16701 Location: On a slope
Re: Asteroid Discoveries, 1980-2010
I don't know if we're defenseless. Nuking an asteroid is actually well within out capabilities, and every year we get better at putting payloads into space and rendezvousing with high-velocity objects. I don't think we could nuke one into oblivion, but I think we could nuke it to alter its course. Also, with all our technology, I wouldn't be surprised if we could build some really big nuclear bombs... tsar bomba at 50 megatons? Hah! I'd like to see someone pop a gigaton nuke to see the results.
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Sat Aug 28, 2010 9:55 am
Rinox
Minor Diety
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 7:23 am Posts: 14892 Location: behind a good glass of Duvel
Re: Asteroid Discoveries, 1980-2010
Hehehe, I'm sure you would.
And yeah, we're not ENTIRELY defenseless, but at this point no one really agrees on what we could do if such a thing were to happen. Nuking for example is a tricky business, since it may just split into smaller pieces. It'll save earth from doomsday, but it'd still kill a shitload of people if the original asteroid was big enough.
I think one of the chapters of a Michio Kaku book Physics of the Impossible focused on this stuff, but I'm not sure. It's a great book, I'm sure you'd love it.
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Mon Aug 30, 2010 3:43 am
Satis
Felix Rex
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2003 6:01 pm Posts: 16701 Location: On a slope
Re: Asteroid Discoveries, 1980-2010
yea, it's on my Amazon list of things I might buy if I ever get bored.
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Mon Aug 30, 2010 5:31 am
Rinox
Minor Diety
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 7:23 am Posts: 14892 Location: behind a good glass of Duvel
Re: Asteroid Discoveries, 1980-2010
Do you have an amazon wishlist? Or what's your nickname on it?
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Mon Aug 30, 2010 5:56 am
Satis
Felix Rex
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2003 6:01 pm Posts: 16701 Location: On a slope
Re: Asteroid Discoveries, 1980-2010
I do have one, but it's private. I don't want you guys to see how many Star Wars toys are on there.
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Mon Aug 30, 2010 4:49 pm
Rinox
Minor Diety
Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 7:23 am Posts: 14892 Location: behind a good glass of Duvel
Re: Asteroid Discoveries, 1980-2010
Haha, like we don't already know you are a huge dork.
I have an amazon account but none of my friends are prone to giving me shit, so I don't bother with the wish list. I guess having a girl and some family members who care (ie a sister) helps. Being single and having only brothers, I tend to be a litte light on people who are attentive.
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Tue Aug 31, 2010 1:49 am
Satis
Felix Rex
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2003 6:01 pm Posts: 16701 Location: On a slope
Re: Asteroid Discoveries, 1980-2010
Honestly, I keep the wish list more for myself, so I remember the stuff. I used to keep things in my shopping cart, but that's dangerous.
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