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Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Orbits of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids
NASA ^
| August 12, 2013
| (see photo credit)
Posted on 08/12/2013 3:44:40 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: Are asteroids dangerous? Some are, but the likelihood of a dangerous asteroid striking the Earth during any given year is low. Because some past mass extinction events have been linked to asteroid impacts, however, humanity has made it a priority to find and catalog those asteroids that may one day affect life on Earth. Pictured above are the orbits of the over 1,000 known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs). These documented tumbling boulders of rock and ice are over 140 meters across and will pass within 7.5 million kilometers of Earth -- about 20 times the distance to the Moon. Although none of them will strike the Earth in the next 100 years -- not all PHAs have been discovered, and past 100 years, many orbits become hard to predict. Were an asteroid of this size to impact the Earth, it could raise dangerous tsunamis, for example. Of course rocks and ice bits of much smaller size strike the Earth every day, usually pose no danger, and sometimes creating memorable fireball and meteor displays.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; astronomy; catastrophism; science
1
posted on
08/12/2013 3:44:40 AM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
To: brytlea; cripplecreek; decimon; bigheadfred; KoRn; Grammy; married21; steelyourfaith; Mmogamer; ...
2
posted on
08/12/2013 3:45:52 AM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(It's no coincidence that some "conservatives" echo the hard left.)
To: 75thOVI; agrace; aimhigh; Alice in Wonderland; AndrewC; aragorn; aristotleman; Avoiding_Sulla; ...
3
posted on
08/12/2013 3:46:19 AM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(It's no coincidence that some "conservatives" echo the hard left.)
To: SunkenCiv
YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4
posted on
08/12/2013 5:25:16 AM PDT
by
left that other site
(You Shall Know the Truth, and the Truth Shall Set You Free...John 8:32)
To: SunkenCiv
To: taxcontrol
Lol. I thought exactly the same thing!!
6
posted on
08/12/2013 7:19:04 AM PDT
by
henkster
(The 0bama regime isn't a train wreck, it's a B 17 raid on the rail yard.)
To: SunkenCiv
Somebody needs to get a traffic light up there ....
7
posted on
08/12/2013 7:27:28 AM PDT
by
Robe
(Rome did not create a great empire by talking, they did it by killing all those who opposed them)
To: SunkenCiv
That looks like one of my kids Spirograph pictures.
To: taxcontrol
Teach me not to read the comments first!
To: taxcontrol; All
10
posted on
08/12/2013 8:08:57 AM PDT
by
PeaceBeWithYou
(De Oppresso Liber! (50 million and counting in Afghanistan and Iraq))
To: taxcontrol
11
posted on
08/12/2013 8:43:44 AM PDT
by
null and void
(Frequent terrorist attacks OR endless government snooping and oppression? Soon we'll have both!)
To: SunkenCiv
That is an Earth killer waiting to happen.
12
posted on
08/12/2013 8:44:52 AM PDT
by
bmwcyle
(People who do not study history are destine to believe really ignorant statements.)
To: SunkenCiv
Why does an American government agency find it necessary to communicate with the public in units of measure that the average person can’t easily conceptualize?
I know that metric units of measure are all the rage in academia these days, but American culture still thinks and conceptualizes in standard English measurements.
13
posted on
08/12/2013 9:57:41 AM PDT
by
Windflier
(To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
To: SunkenCiv
14
posted on
08/12/2013 6:16:55 PM PDT
by
mikrofon
(Backgrounder)
To: SunkenCiv
15
posted on
08/12/2013 6:21:28 PM PDT
by
citizen
(We get the government we choose. America either voted for Obama or handed it to him by not voting.)
To: bmwcyle
16
posted on
08/13/2013 3:25:30 AM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(It's no coincidence that some "conservatives" echo the hard left.)
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