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The Comet That Created The Perseids Might Bring An End To Humanity
Forbes ^ | August 11, 2017 | Ethan Siegel, Senior Contributor

Posted on 09/30/2021 8:38:27 AM PDT by SunkenCiv

For thousands of years, the most consistent, spectacular meteor shower has been the Perseids, created by Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. At its incredibly large size (26 kilometers across) and speed, it contains nearly 30 times the energy of the asteroid strike that wiped out the dinosaurs... If Jupiter — which it also passes by — gives it just the slightest gravitational kick, it could be flung into the Sun, ejected from the Solar System, or hurtled directly into our world. If this were to happen, and it's a real possibility some 2400 years from now, it would mark the largest mass extinction our world has seen in hundreds of millions of years...

First, the good news... It last entered the inner Solar System in December of 1992, and won't do so again until 2126. We'll get a close pass (within 1,000,000 miles) in 3044, but it ought to miss us. In fact, its next 2,000+ years of orbits are mapped out incredibly well, and the Earth is 100% safe until at least 4479, when it will come quite close to Earth once again. Even then, there's still a 99.9999% chance it will miss us.

But... Each orbit contains, on average, a 0.000002% probability of the comet hitting Earth. This might seem small, but it's six times greater than your odds of winning the Powerball. Only in this case, it would be the ultimate cosmic loss. Comet Swift-Tuttle is 26 kilometers in diameter, making it at least 260% the width of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, and it moves at four times the speed that the dinosaur-killer moved at whenever it crosses Earth's orbit.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: 1992; 2126; 3044; 4479; astronomy; catastrophism; comet; comets; cometswifttuttle; fauxiantroll; fauxiantrolls; perseids; science; swifttuttle
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The orbital path of Comet Swift-Tuttle, which passes perilously close to crossing Earth's actual path around the Sun. While there is no danger to Earth for at least ~2400 years, the meteors from the cometary debris will grace our skies every year for the foreseeable future. [HOWARD OF TEACHINGSTARS]
The orbital path of Comet Swift-Tuttle, which passes perilously close to crossing Earth's actual path around the Sun. While there is no danger to Earth for at least ~2400 years, the meteors from the cometary debris will grace our skies every year for the foreseeable future. [HOWARD OF TEACHINGSTARS]

1 posted on 09/30/2021 8:38:27 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: SunkenCiv

We can only hope


2 posted on 09/30/2021 8:39:23 AM PDT by Karma_Sherab
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To: SunkenCiv

Get the jab and everything gonna be alright.


3 posted on 09/30/2021 8:40:00 AM PDT by rktman (Destroy America from within? Check! WTH? Enlisted USN 1967 to end up with this? 😕)
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To: 75thOVI; Abathar; agrace; aimhigh; Alice in Wonderland; AnalogReigns; AndrewC; aragorn; ...



4 posted on 09/30/2021 8:41:21 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: SunkenCiv
A comet MAY have "created" the Perseids, but God created man.

HE owns us and will not allow another creation of His destroy US.

OUR destruction is self imposed and supernatural in origin

5 posted on 09/30/2021 8:41:46 AM PDT by knarf
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To: rktman

Didn’t the Beach Boys sing about this ?

Only God Knows


6 posted on 09/30/2021 8:41:55 AM PDT by George from New England
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To: SunkenCiv

Well, that’s the price you pay for all those pretty light shows.


7 posted on 09/30/2021 8:42:21 AM PDT by gitmo (If your theology doesn't become your biography, what good is it?)
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To: SunkenCiv

So you’re sayin’ “Play the Powerball?”


8 posted on 09/30/2021 8:43:07 AM PDT by \/\/ayne (I regret that I have but one subscription cancellation notice to give to my local newspaper)
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Whoops. Googling used to work much better than FR’s own search, but something has changed in their algorithm. Gosh, wonder why?

The Comet That Created The Perseids Might Bring An End To Humanity
Forbes | 11 Aug, 2017 | Ethan Siegel
Posted on 8/12/2017, 11:21:52 AM by MtnClimber
https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3576601/posts

https://freerepublic.com/tag/cometswifttuttle/index

https://freerepublic.com/tag/swifttuttle/index


9 posted on 09/30/2021 8:44:01 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: \/\/ayne

No, just be sure to buy at least six tickets!

Powerball drawing results for 9/29/21. No match to winning numbers, jackpot rises to $620M
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2021/09/29/powerball-numbers-drawing-results-lottery-jackpot-9-29-21-september-2021/5901329001/


10 posted on 09/30/2021 8:46:17 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: SunkenCiv

“Each orbit contains, on average, a 0.000002% probability of the comet hitting Earth. This might seem small, but it’s six times greater than your odds of winning the Powerball.”

What this tells us about Powerball is more interesting than what it tells us about a cometary catastrophe.


11 posted on 09/30/2021 8:53:13 AM PDT by rightwingcrazy (;-,)
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To: SunkenCiv

We are all going to die in 10 years from “climate change” anyway. So what difference at this point does it matter!


12 posted on 09/30/2021 8:53:29 AM PDT by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal the 16th Amendment)
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To: SunkenCiv

Lol. The Asteroid strike that supposedly killed the dinosaurs is only conjecture. The dinosaurs took several million years to die out, it wasn’t overnight. And they had been declining for millions of years before the suspected strike. It’s like other unproven ideas, like “left brain, right brain”. These things take on a life of their own. But they aren’t factual.


13 posted on 09/30/2021 8:55:20 AM PDT by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: SunkenCiv

But did not debris from the Taurid stream lead the the worldwide cataclysm 12,800 years ago? I’ve read debris from the Taurid stream could happen at any time the earth is exposed to that stream


14 posted on 09/30/2021 8:55:45 AM PDT by atc23 (The Matriarchal Society we embrace has led to masks and mandates and the cult of "safety")
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To: SunkenCiv

Fear porn by AND FOR liberal ‘elites’ who aren’t getting much kick out of ‘climate change’ anymore.


15 posted on 09/30/2021 9:00:14 AM PDT by GOPJ (A million illegals a day starting next summer.)
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To: SunkenCiv
But... Each orbit contains, on average, a 0.000002% probability of the comet hitting Earth.

Hah! Covid-odds!

16 posted on 09/30/2021 9:01:50 AM PDT by Tallguy
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To: SunkenCiv

Y’know, if you just agree to pay a 3% tax on your carbon usage, government will prevent this from happening!


17 posted on 09/30/2021 9:21:04 AM PDT by Jhadur ("You are not ready for immortality.")
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To: SunkenCiv

Is there a GoFundMe where we can help the comet?


18 posted on 09/30/2021 9:21:35 AM PDT by montag813
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To: GOPJ

Nope, it’s called astronomy, a.k.a. the queen of the sciences. And by queen, we don’t mean, homosexuality.


19 posted on 09/30/2021 9:23:03 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: montag813

I’m in for five.


20 posted on 09/30/2021 9:23:20 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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