Posted on 02/17/2007 11:41:10 AM PST by blam
Asteroid threat demands response, experts warn
16:26 17 February 2007
NewScientist.com news service
Ivan Semeniuk, San Francisco
If the asteroid Apophis hits Earth in 2036, it could slam into the Pacific Ocean, generating a tsunami that could devastate the west coast of North America (Illustration: Don Davis/NASA)
Kamchatkans and Venezuelans beware. A 20-million-tonne asteroid could be heading your way. Californians have even more reason to worry - the asteroid is more likely to hit the Pacific Ocean, triggering a tsunami that could devastate the west coast of North America.
These are among the scenarios projected for asteroid Apophis, which researchers now say has a 1 in 45,000 chance of hitting Earth on 13 April 2036. Calculations show it would strike somewhere along a narrow track that stretches eastward from Siberia to the west coast of Africa.
Compared to earlier estimates, the new figure represents a further reduction in the threat posed by Apophis (see Risk of asteroid smashing into Earth reduced). But the threat is real enough, experts argue, to merit a United Nations protocol for dealing with the problem.
"Someone will have to make a decision," says Russell Schweickart, a former Apollo astronaut and founder of the Association of Space Explorers. Because any plan for deflecting the asteroid away from Earth will need to be implemented well before an impact site is precisely known, he says, "this is inherently going to be an international decision".
Sky surveys
Beginning in the next few months, Schweickart's group will host a series of meetings to provide the UN with a 'decision process' for assessing and acting on the hazard posed by Apophis and other near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). A draft document ready for consideration by the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space is expected by
(Excerpt) Read more at space.newscientist.com ...
According to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the odds against the meteor hitting earth are one in 200,000. However, we'd like to point out that the odds against winning the lottery are one in eighty million. And people win it all the time!
How can you protect yourself and insure the financial security of your loved ones in times of such great peril? It's easy with McGuffin's Calamity and Catastrophe Insurance.
For a monthly fee lower than what you're currently paying for your car, McGuffin's Calamity and Catastrophe Insurance will guarantee you a big payout if the earth is hit by the meteor. And, as an added bonus if you act immediately, we'll add a clause doubling your payout if more than half of the planet is destroyed.
Don't let the NT7 Asteroid burn you. Be safe and secure, knowing you're protected by McGuffin's, last name in casualty insurance. When in town, visit our haggis museum.
Write today, McGuffin's Low Cost Health and Casualty Asteroid Insurance, PO Box 111, Oranjestad, Aruba, N.A. Our high pressure salesmen will visit your home to explain the details.
DON'T BE KICKED RIGHT IN THE STUFFIN'
YOU'LL MAKE MONEY, WE'RE NOT BLUFFIN'
GET SOME ASTEROID INSURANCE FROM MCGUFFIN.
This is why, if it ever actually comes down to it, the US should just go ahead and fix it ourselves.
The last thing we need it to set up some UN office, run by Kofi Annan or some such bureaucrat, who embezzles his budget only to find there is nothing built which can handle the threat when it actually comes.
Fix it ourselves, save the planet, and earn the eternal hatred of the rest of the world for our trouble.
Revelation 8:8-9
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood:
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
1 in 45,000.....
Looks like we're going to have to evacuate San Fransisco. Sorry guys.
Put a number on the price. Put a probability on the likelihood that for that amount we can prevent a hit.
Only then will we be able to decide whether it is "cheap insurance".
...
PS... until then, I'll continue to sneer.
Even if this all turns out to be a false alarm, we still get rid of Ben Affleck.
LOL........I like.........
:}
Taaah Daaaah!
LOL!
Asteroids have a way of exploding when they approach a planet. They have an electrical charge at their core which fails to to equalize rapidly enough with the different charge of a planet which creates internal stresses that cause them to become bolides.
See Tunguska Event
http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2006/arch06/060915tunguska1.htm
http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2006/arch06/060918tunguska2.htm
A comet involved in the Chicago and Peshtigo fires:
http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2006/arch06/060920chicagofire.htm
When Comets Break Apart
http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2006/arch06/060825cometsbreak.htm
The Peekskill Meteor (it blew up)
http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2006/arch06/060601meteor.htm
Comet Schwassman-Wachmann 3 Disintegrates 1 & 2
http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2006/arch06/060505cometbreakup.htm
http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2006/arch06/060508cometbreakup2.htm
Thanks for the pings.
Action urged to deal with asteroid likely to hit Earth
(Please read and respond to my comment)
Todayonline | 12-08-05 | Guardian
Posted on 12/09/2005 12:07:47 PM EST by emiller
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1537189/posts
Astronaut Seeks Craft to Bump Asteroids
AP via Earthlink | January 23, 2007 | AP
Posted on 01/23/2007 11:52:26 PM EST by John W
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1772659/posts
Great. The day I retire.
now listed under "Objects Not Recently Observed",
but 1:45000 chance of striking Earth
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/
Scientist: Asteroid May Hit Earth in 2029
Yahoo/AP | 12/23/04 | JOHN ANTCZAK
Posted on 12/23/2004 11:24:16 PM EST by hole_n_one
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1307719/posts
2006 JY26
1:185 chance of impact,
but only .007 km diameter (7.6 yards, about 23 feet)
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/2006jy26.html
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.