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Space Science

Large Asteroid Impact Likely -- But Not For A While 38

Posted by timothy from the everything-that-rises-must-converge dept.
PhxBlue writes: "Astronomy.com has released a report, submitted to the 5 April Science magazine, that an asteroid known as 1950 DA has 1:300 odds of impacting Earth and causing widespread devastation. The good news is, the impact wouldn't happen until 16 March 2880; and the solutions suggested by the scientists don't involve Tea Leoni or Bruce Willis."
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Large Asteroid Impact Likely -- But Not For A While More

Large Asteroid Impact Likely -- But Not For A While

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  • Simply altering the surface albedo in places, for example by selectively dropping white chalk or black carbon powder to darken or lighten some regions, could be enough to do the trick.

    Now this is a cool idea. If they make it white on one end and black on the other maybe they could make it spin. If this were possible, could they create a cloud of dust between the asteroid and the sun for a temporary effect?

  • Yahoo! [yahoo.com] also has an article about this.

  • That's worrying... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Violet Null ( 452694 ) on Thursday April 04, 2002 @04:57PM (#3286785)
    Because, I don't know about you, but I plan to be around in 2880. Just as soon as I get this accursed immortality serum to work correctly...
    • Just as soon as I get this accursed immortality serum to work correctly...
      Come on, it shouldn't be that hard. I'd swear that there are millions of people out there that have managed to get a working immorality serum...

      Chris Beckenbach

      • Just as soon as I get this accursed immortality serum to work correctly...

        Come on, it shouldn't be that hard. I'd swear that there are millions of people out there that have managed to get a working immorality serum...

        Well since you've got a working immorality serum you should have any problem with selling Violet Null some of that immortality serum since (he/she/it) is having problems making their own.

    • Immortality is a solved problem. You just need some magnetic pinky rings. [alexchiu.com]

      BTW, if anyone needs a volunteer to study the effects of impact with Téa Leoni, well, I'd be willing to sacrifice myself. For the good of humanity, you know...

  • ...the solutions suggested by the scientists don't involve Tea Leoni or Bruce Willis.

    You know damn well at some point, there WAS a solution involving Ms. Leoni and Mr. Willis: Launch them now at the asteroid with sufficient velocity to alter its course by the fraction of a degree needed.

    The beauty of this plan is that it's cheap (no fancy-pants ships or suits needed), humanity benefits, and with luck, they'll keep Aerosmith on standby in case they need more mass...

    GTRacer
    - It's a JOKE. It's not a threat, okay?

  • Since when are those odds *LIKELY* that it will hit Earth? What a sensationalist piece of crap...

    At any rate, and physicist or astronomer will tell you that the uncertainty in these equations is enormous, and that there's a 1/300 chance that the odds 1/300 are even correct.

  • It was Robert Duvall that saved the world in Deep Impact. Tea Leoni just used the asteroid to help work out her Family Issues. Pity she was so busy doing that, she didn't notice that giant tidal wave...
  • If you can't figure out how to survive this, then you deserve to get hit by it! You'll have 878 years on us!
  • Heh I just submitted this story. Oh well.
    Here's the link [newscientist.com] I used for the NewScientist version. I guess the most interesting thing about this is the theory of shrink-wrapping. I think most of the rest of it is just speculation.

  • Near Earth Orbit page for this object (Score:4, Informative)

    by EvilBastard ( 77954 ) on Thursday April 04, 2002 @06:41PM (#3287446) Homepage
    http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/1950da/ [nasa.gov]

    And while you are there, don't forget to print out a copy of http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/ [nasa.gov] to put on your wall, preferably next to the ship date or schedule for your latest project. Makes an excellent background for your desktop also

    Make note of 2000 SG344 [nasa.gov], which has a cumulative 1 in 1300 chance of hitting us in the period of 2068-2101 also.

    Or go to the Java Orbital Diagram [nasa.gov] and check out August 2049 for Asteroid 2002 CU11

    When was the last time you bought a lottery ticket ? What are the odds on that-life changing event, vs the odds on that page ?

    Here ends my happy thoughts for the day

  • In a related story, congress announced a new copyright extension act, retroactively extending all copyright until 2881. When asked whether the bill would be constitutional, the bill's main proponent responded "The constitution only says that copyright must be 'for limited times'. It says nothing about whether or not humans must still be alive when those limited times expire."

  • engrave it in a rock (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Lepruhkawn ( 199083 ) on Thursday April 04, 2002 @09:40PM (#3288289) Homepage
    It seems to me that if our society generates a bunch of data on what objects are likely to hit our planet, that we should make that information easy for future occupants of the planet to find.

    I mean, personally, I don't think it's too far fetched that by the time the 29th century rolls around, humans aren't coming out of some kind of dark age and are just getting back into exploring the solar system and stuff.

    Wouldn't they appreciate a heads up on what might kill them?

    It would be a shame to let all the info go to waste.
    • So we should paint the asteroid bright orange and engrave the word DANGEROUS on the side of it? That would have the beneficial side effect of marking it for space ships. Of course this is assuming that ET reads english.
    • Your idea makes a lot of sense. It's totally conceivable that 900 years from now the world would just be getting out of a some sort of dark ages.

      The Roman Empire lasted for over a thousand years and they created or used ingenious technology (like the arch, concrete, etc.) but some of that technology disappeared after the Empire collapsed a little over a thousand years ago.

      The Greeks also had discovered a lot of science that was only preserved by the people of the Middle East.

      The great library at Alexandria was sacked and I think burned to the ground several thousand years ago.

      Who knows what gems of knowledge were destroyed in that great library that have taken thousands of years to rediscover.

      Maybe we should bury a Cray supercomputer endowed with AI in an underground bunker ala the old Star Trek episode where Kirk was known as Keerock!

  • i hope to god that we'll have better weapons to deflect asteroids by that time.....

    ...but also we have the common sense not to use those weapons on our own people...
    • Naahhh - with all due respect, I hope that weapons technology never even enters into it. Far better to simply pursue space settlement (an idea actually possible with some surprisingly old technology) and the associated space based infra-structure to support it. We've got a few decades, and a space based civilization has lots of advantages to offer; not least is the concept of melting objects like this down for the resources. Hey, PrestO! Threat (and all similar threats) gone, in exchange for a thriving economy where chopping up dinosaur-killers turns a handy profit. Everybody wins.
      Just my two cents.
  • not sure how many points i get when normal-posting. this is old, so most likely no one will ever read/mod this...

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