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On International Asteroid Day, here's what to know about the threat to Earth
CNNl ^ | 06/30/2019 | Ashley Strickland,

Posted on 06/30/2019 2:07:20 PM PDT by BenLurkin

Sunday is International Asteroid Day, commemorating the Earth's largest recorded asteroid impact while focusing on the real danger of asteroids that could collide with Earth.

In 1908, a powerful asteroid struck the Podkamennaya Tunguska River area in a remote Siberian forest of Russia.

Six years ago, an asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere over Chelyabinsk, Russia. It exploded in the air, releasing 20 to 30 times more energy than that of the first atomic bombs and generating brightness greater than the sun. It damaged more than 7,000 buildings and injured more than 1,000 people. The shock wave broke windows 58 miles away.

And it explains why astronomers and the Asteroid Day group want people to be aware.

NASA and other space organizations around the world are focused on detecting the threat of near-Earth objects or NEOs, asteroids and comets whose orbits place them within 30 million miles of Earth.

NASA's NEO program funds and relies on detection and tracking efforts from observatories across the country and in space and collaborates with observatories around the world.

Researchers modeled the Tunguska and Chelyabinsk events on computers to understand how damage can occur from asteroids entering our atmosphere, even when they break apart in the air.

The analysis provided a promising discovery. Four computer models arrived at a similar picture of what happened at Tunguska. The asteroid was probably rocky, not icy, and between 164 and 262 feet across, and entered our atmosphere at 34,000 miles per hour. This created the energy equivalent to the Mount St. Helens volcanic eruption in 1980, between 6 and 9 miles above the ground.

The researchers found that the interval between such devastating potential asteroid impacts on Earth is one of millenia, not centuries, based on the known asteroid population.

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


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: 1979xb; 2000sg344; 2010rf12; apophis; asteroidday; asteroids; catastrophism; chelyabinsk; russia; tunguska
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1 posted on 06/30/2019 2:07:20 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

The researchers found that the interval between such devastating potential asteroid impacts on Earth is one of millenia, not centuries, based on the known asteroid population.

The unknown asteroid population, not so much.


2 posted on 06/30/2019 2:10:07 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: BenLurkin

“...and generating brightness greater than the sun.”

Can that really be true? I do remember seeing video of that asteroid over Russia, though.

Meh. Something is going to get us eventually. I seriously have enough to worry about right now as it is, LOL! :)


3 posted on 06/30/2019 2:10:38 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (We come from the earth, we return to the earth, and in between we garden.~Alfred Austin)
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To: BenLurkin

I can think of a number of locations that really need an asteroid.


4 posted on 06/30/2019 2:12:04 PM PDT by noiseman (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.`)
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To: BenLurkin

Four asteroids on COLLISION course with Earth

https://www.rt.com/news/463071-asteroids-collision-course-earth/


5 posted on 06/30/2019 2:13:55 PM PDT by Innovative
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To: BenLurkin

I would say CNN news is more of a threat to Earth than a potential asteroid strike.


6 posted on 06/30/2019 2:17:33 PM PDT by CincyRichieRich (Vote for President Trump in 2020 or end up equally miserable, no rights, and eating zoo animals)
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To: BenLurkin
Sunday is International Asteroid Day

I didn't even get my cards out this year!

7 posted on 06/30/2019 2:26:39 PM PDT by GreenHornet
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
Something is going to get us eventually.

S*** Happens.

8 posted on 06/30/2019 2:28:10 PM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: noiseman

Yup. Same here. If the asteroids need coordinates, I’ll give it to them..


9 posted on 06/30/2019 2:32:54 PM PDT by max americana (Fired libtards from our company & did so happily at every election since 2008. I hope all libs die.)
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To: BenLurkin

Hell ! We’ll be toast from global warming/cooling/climate change... whatever... by then


10 posted on 06/30/2019 2:38:24 PM PDT by ontap
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To: Innovative; tet68

“Happy Asteroid Day! NASA still can’t track the ones that could end civilization”

https://qz.com/1654310/its-asteroid-day-and-we-still-cant-see-the-scary-ones/


11 posted on 06/30/2019 2:40:58 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

Russia - why is it always Russia?


12 posted on 06/30/2019 2:46:01 PM PDT by Psalm 73 ("I will now proceed to entangle the entire area".)
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To: Psalm 73

Vast land area may have something to do with it...


13 posted on 06/30/2019 2:52:30 PM PDT by null and void (Stamp out philately!)
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To: Psalm 73
Or maybe collusion collision?
14 posted on 06/30/2019 2:53:18 PM PDT by null and void (Stamp out philately!)
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To: Psalm 73

Trump collusion.


15 posted on 06/30/2019 4:09:53 PM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s^2)
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To: BenLurkin

16 posted on 06/30/2019 4:10:27 PM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s^2)
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To: DoodleBob

bttt


17 posted on 06/30/2019 4:22:09 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: Psalm 73

Because the Russian land mass cover a fifth of the Earth’s surface.


18 posted on 06/30/2019 4:44:24 PM PDT by jmacusa ("If wisdom is not the Lord, what is wisdom?''.)
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To: BenLurkin

Damned bugs!


19 posted on 06/30/2019 4:48:31 PM PDT by CodeToad ( Hating on Trump is hating on me and Americans!)
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To: jmacusa
"Russia - why is it always Russia?" was asked sort of tongue-in-cheek.
But hey, thanks for the geography lesson….
20 posted on 06/30/2019 5:34:37 PM PDT by Psalm 73 ("I will now proceed to entangle the entire area".)
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