Posted on 07/06/2018 1:50:43 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Astronomers have calculated the Apophis asteroid will speed past Earth on April 13, 2029, at just 18,600 miles away -- a hair's width in astronomical terms. To put that into perspective, the moon is 238,900 miles away...
If the 27 billion kg asteroid were to hit Earth, scientists calculate that it would leave a crater over a mile wide and a staggering 518 metres deep.
However, most worryingly, the impact would be equivalent to 880 million tons of TNT being detonated -- some 65,000 times as powerful as the nuclear bomb which was dropped on Hiroshima.
The next time the asteroid is set to pass Earth after 2029 is 2036...
However, Alan Harris, a former NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), says Apophis has a negative "Palermo Scale" -- a negative Palermo Scale indicates less of an impact risk with asteroids.
There are Millions of Asteroids in the solar system, usually found in the Asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, however those in that pass the Earth are called Near-Earth objects
Mr Harris said: "Apophis has a Palermo Scale rating of about minus three, so while we cannot rule out an impact in the future, it is about 1,000 times less likely than a random impact in the same interval of time.
"Due to a close but non-impacting pass by the Earth, there are numerous possible impact trajectories beyond that, but all are of very low probability."
(Excerpt) Read more at express.co.uk ...
2 out of 3 chance it would hit the water, which would create a different set of problems. But if it got hot and broke up like the recent Russian thing, there’s money in it for glass companies.
Not to worry. Elon Musk is on it!
Jack, Sam, Teal’c and Daniel Jackson will make sure that we are safe from Apophis.
On a more serious note, a small rocket booster attached to the rock and pointing it into the Sun would be the best course of action.
The “Tractor” Gravity Tug would also work, but, into the Sun is the best place to dispose of such things.
According to your list there has been a bumper crop of catastrophisms since Mr. Trump took orifice. I wonder if that is a coincidence or if he really is going to end the world?
Don’t need to (or want to) break it into pieces.
Just alter its course a bit (an inch per second difference in its velocity, for example) in the next year or two and that velocity change will then have a decade or so to put it somewhere significantly different when Earth gets to that neighborhood in 2029.
The one off the coast of Washington state?
What happens if it smacks down in Yellowstone?
That’s inside geosynch. Looks like a good time to practice moving an asteroid.
“If one were really thought likely to hit earth, how long would it take to design and construct the necessary space technology to destroy or deflect it? “
Complying with government edicts to make guys feel more comfortable in girls’ bathrooms and sticking to quotas hiring ‘underrepresented’ people and companies owned by a woman - or just getting the goddam job done?
I’d be 74 then too, so I might get to see it...........unless my eyes are cloudy...............
A small push with ten years until zero hour would do the trick. Waiting until the last year would require a much greater effort for deflection. Must also extrapolate the course correction; so, as to not incur problems through subsequent interaction with other astronomical bodies.
Then BOAKYAGB! Starts with bend over
A few centimeters-per-second velocity change in the next year could do the job.
I’m not worried about it. The United States Space Force should be operational by then. Either we blast it into smithereens or direct its’ path toward Gitmo to take out Hillary, BHO, Podesta and Soros.
Would you prefer a slug or buckshot at point blank range?
Hope it also doesn’t hit on the opposite side of Earth from the volcano. As is, would have a chance of shaking loose all the faults with pent-up accumulated stress.
Yes, in theory that would work. How would we go about doing that?
“I’ll be long gone by then, but the rest of y’all best duck/cover :-)”
You don’t expect to be with us another decade?
Thanks DoodleBob. The 2029 pass is sufficiently close (given that the mass estimate is still likely to be wrong) that the trajectory of its pass in 2036 remains uncertain, but it wasn't going to be too close anyway (150 lunar distances, it sez here).
Let’s really blow this up and call it a 29 trillion gram asteroid. WOW! Izat hugh!
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