CData Visualization by Jan Willem Tulp
Posted on 04/16/2014 3:20:57 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Chelyabinsk, a large city in western Russia, was best known for producing tractors and professional hockey players until the morning of February 15, 2013, when a 19-meter-wide meteor screamed through the sky and exploded with the force of 500 kilotons of TNT. The meteor generated a fireball many times brighter than the sun, so powerful it even caused sunburns. The shock wave blew out windows and knocked residents off of their feet, injuring more than 1,200. The object was the largest to strike Earth in more than a century...
Asteroids that come within 28 million miles of our planet are known as Near-Earth Objects, or NEOs. There are millions of them, most of which originate in the main belt between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars. Despite their occasional habit of smacking into planet Earth—wiping out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, and leveling 800 square miles of Siberian forest in 1908—very few NEOs had been identified until recently. Astronomers discovered the first one, Eros, in 1898; by 1960, they had identified just 19 more. It was only in the late 1990s, with the advent of digital imaging and computer-aided searching, that detection really picked up. Today’s search programs discover about 20 NEOs a week. Astronomers cheered when the 10,000th one was spotted last June.
Scientists have found more than 90 percent of the estimated 950 NEOs large enough to end civilization as we know it, those one kilometer wide or more. Unfortunately, they have eyes on only 40 percent of the estimated 15,000 NEOs in the 140-meter size category, any of which could take out a major metropolitan area. Of the half a million or more asteroids in the 30-meter and smaller range, only 1 percent have been charted and many could devastate a city.
(Excerpt) Read more at popsci.com ...
CData Visualization by Jan Willem Tulp
Can we send Bammy out there to be the traffic cop to avoid collisions?
Somebody wanted to name an asteroid after Trayvon Martin. I never heard if that actually happened.
Nothing to worry about unless I win the lottery. Then earth impact by a giant asteroid will be imminent given my luck.
Just a fragment of Shoemaker Levy-9 would have probably been enough to annihilate our planet. There wouldn’t even be any dirt left. Well, I guess the dirt WOULD be somewhere, just not ‘here’.
It wouldn’t have been good, in fact, we can safely say, it would have been bad. :’) Actually, it’s briefly discussed on here:
Asteroids: Deadly Impact
http://watchdocumentary.org/watch/asteroids-deadly-impact-video_9122e1848.html
http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/asteroids_deadly_impact
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9ZnQ9TL_RA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zictQuXbQ9I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KBNNmBMQ3Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwXSg2OEKZA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkAUeotP2MM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdQNf10y_dA
So, it’s imperative that YOU NOT BUY ANY LOTTERY TICKETS!!! The lives of everyone on Earth depends on it!!! ;’)
Interesting fact stated of 90% of NEO’s found.
Why don’t they ask the guy that gave them the total figure where the rest of the ESTIMATED 950 are located?
I believe they are with the 7.5 million enrolled in the _resident’s insurance program.
The Moon would be an ideal place for that asteroid reflector which NASA must be working on even as we speak…
Oooh, great idea!
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