isn't 75000 miles pretty f@#kin' close?Not according to some nimrods on the radio this morning. After the news they were discussing all the "fuss" related to this incident and one asked what was the big deal, "its not like it was that close!"
Incredible how uninformed people can be. I'm only using the term 'uninformed' because I don't want to get booted from the HTF!
IMO nothing significant will take place until one of these "small" objects creates a "minor disturbance". Too many people don't seem to be able to grasp the consequences of anything less than a dino-killer. Do you think its another case of NIMBY???
Dude, I'm no space / astronomy expert, but...
isn't 75000 miles pretty f@#kin' close?Extremely, comparitively so. Just watch the first episode of Carl Sagan's Cosmos. It's mind boggling. There's another episode early on, I forget exactly which one, that deals with comets and the odds of them and other space matter hitting us. Again, it is just mind boggling. 75,000 miles? Man, that's nothin'.
New ammo for those who get sick and tired of people who mindlessly badmouth spending money on space travel, manned and unmanned.The only bummer, mankind is self destructive. There is no way we are getting off this rock, we will destroy ourselves first. Man has used every weapon of destruction in warfare that has been developed except nukes, it's only a matter of time. Less time than we have to colonize another planet.
Peace Out~
people can still live on the other "target".
Peace Out~
Man has used every weapon of destruction in warfare that has been developed except nukes
Actually, we've already had a nuclear war. It was called World War II.
How will an impact of this size cause people to want to move off this planet?Because of the simple reason it demonstrates Earth is a whopping big target in the cosmic pinball machine known as the Solar System. If an NEO is but a kilometer in diameter and impacts the planet anywhere, that's it for civilization as we know it. Fini. Irrevocable and irreversible.
In keeping with humankind's natural urge to explore, we reap immediate benefits in spreading the species throughout the Solar System. It's called "survival." Further, from different vantage points--the Moon, space stations orbiting in the LaGrange Points, Mars, an outpost(s) in the Asteroid Belt, etc.--the species would be better positioned to detect species-destroying NEOs more easily and earlier.
Why the resistance to exploring, occupying, and colonizing space? Why? It's the next logical step in human evolution--and our one insurance policy against certain extinction.
Remember, the Sun itself will be around for only so long. To oppose space exploration is to oppose human nature.
75,000 miles is inside the Moon's orbit. That is extremely close.Not only inside the orbit, but only about 1/3rd of the way to the moon, (between 225k to 250k out).
Julie, maybe I'll change my reply to your other thread, maybe we will go out with a bang.
As a pessimist, cynic and all around "down with people" kind of guy, I have to agree with Ron & Mark. I don't think we'll last long enough... You have to remember, the only planet remotely "colonizable" is Mars. And to do that, there has to be water that we can access. Also, to save the species, we can't just have a small scientific outpost living in a dome on Mars, we gotta have numbers. That probably means terraforming which takes millenia. The odds that another big rock hits us before then goes up.