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Meteor Over the Atlantic

Bob N

Bob N

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I guess this goes to show you how vulnerable Earth is.

A Meteor Just Exploded Over The Atlantic With More Force Than The Hiroshima Bomb

The largest fireball since the Chelyabinsk blast in February 2013 has been revealed, detected on February 6 at 2 p.m. UTC in the South Atlantic Ocean. But this event happened in the middle of the ocean, about 1,850 kilometers (1,150 miles) south-east of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, so it likely wasn't seen directly or caught on camera.

Data released by NASA shows that the meteor released an energy equivalent to 12,000 tonnes (13,000 tons) of TNT, and it was moving at over 15.5 kilometers per second (9.6 miles per second). It disintegrated at a height of about 31 kilometers (19 miles) and it had a diameter of about 7 meters (23 feet), calculated based on its kinetic energy.
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Someone forget to call Bruce Willis and crew?
 
That was a close shave. Had that hit Rio...
 
This was crazy. Amazing how small we are as a society huh?
 
So what would have happened had this been over a city? Was the explosion high enough that it wouldn't have done much damage or would it have been a disaster?
 
Actually, this is far from a laughing matter.

A rocky asteroid what? About a 1/2 mile in diameter, would in fact be a ELE.

Rather surprised that the astronomers who are looking for such things didn't see it first and coming, and give warning.
 
eohrnberger said:
Actually, this is far from a laughing matter.

A rocky asteroid what? About a 1/2 mile in diameter, would in fact be a ELE.

Rather surprised that the astronomers who are looking for such things didn't see it first and coming, and give warning.
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And we could do what exactly?
 
Casper said:
And we could do what exactly?
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Of the recent asteroid strikes, we've been lucky, in that they've all been air bursts high enough in the atmosphere that the strength of the shock wave that high ground level was sufficiently reduced such that only minor damage was done.

One day, our luck is going to run out.

A number of scientists have stated that you don't want to blow up / break up a single large asteroid into smaller pieces that would still hold to the same trajectory and hit the Earth, but I have to ask, which is better / worse? A single very large impact, and a number of dispersed smaller ones?

I keep coming up with a number of dispersed smaller ones would be better.

Spread out the energy of impact for one thing, and a number of smaller asteroids have a greater chance of burning up in the atmosphere and / or air bursts higher in the atmosphere imparting less energy on impact and causing less damage.

Some may say that if you set off a nuke to break up that large asteroid, now you've got radioactive smaller asteroid coming down, but as Chernobyl has shown, life is far more resistant to the effects of radioactivity than we first may have thought. Sure, the incidents of cancer and other medical problems will take some lives, some very soon after the fallout and some in future generations, but I have to believe it would be less than had the single large asteroid come down and caused an ELE.
 
eohrnberger said:
Of the recent asteroid strikes, we've been lucky, in that they've all been air bursts high enough in the atmosphere that the strength of the shock wave that high ground level was sufficiently reduced such that only minor damage was done.

One day, our luck is going to run out.

A number of scientists have stated that you don't want to blow up / break up a single large asteroid into smaller pieces that would still hold to the same trajectory and hit the Earth, but I have to ask, which is better / worse? A single very large impact, and a number of dispersed smaller ones?

I keep coming up with a number of dispersed smaller ones would be better.

Spread out the energy of impact for one thing, and a number of smaller asteroids have a greater chance of burning up in the atmosphere and / or air bursts higher in the atmosphere imparting less energy on impact and causing less damage.

Some may say that if you set off a nuke to break up that large asteroid, now you've got radioactive smaller asteroid coming down, but as Chernobyl has shown, life is far more resistant to the effects of radioactivity than we first may have thought. Sure, the incidents of cancer and other medical problems will take some lives, some very soon after the fallout and some in future generations, but I have to believe it would be less than had the single large asteroid come down and caused an ELE.
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At the moment we actually can not aim one at an incoming asteroid and destroy it, we are too busy pointing them at each other to bother defending the Planet. As you said, one day our luck Will run out.
 
Casper said:
At the moment we actually can not aim one at an incoming asteroid and destroy it, we are too busy pointing them at each other to bother defending the Planet. As you said, one day our luck Will run out.
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How long does it take to change the targeting? How long does it take to calculate an optimal trajectory, making use of celestial bodies and their gravity for additional acceleration?

Of course, you'd also have to also be able to quickly cobble together a multi-stage delivery vehicle to achieve high Earth orbit, sling shot (gravity boost) as much as possible, to make the detonation as far a distance as possible from the Earth, as simple vectors tell us this would be the best for deflecting as much as possible from even hitting the Earth and would also aid in the dispersal of the broken up large asteroid.
 
eohrnberger said:
Actually, this is far from a laughing matter.

A rocky asteroid what? About a 1/2 mile in diameter, would in fact be a ELE.

Rather surprised that the astronomers who are looking for such things didn't see it first and coming, and give warning.
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To do what? If it's an ELE, what can you do? And wouldn't a warning simply create panic?

**** it, don't tell me, just let it come
 
Fearandloathing said:
To do what? If it's an ELE, what can you do? And wouldn't a warning simply create panic?

**** it, don't tell me, just let it come
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Yeah, OK. If nothing's to be done, then a warning of the general populous isn't going to change much and in fact, could be detrimental.
 
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eohrnberger said:
Yeah, OK. If nothing's to be done, then a warning of the general populous isn't going to change much and in fact, could be detrimental.
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Kind of reminds me when I first moved to the states, in grade school we used to have air raid drills, a siren would would all dive under our desks. One day I asked "why"? If its a nuclear attack what's the point of hiding under a silly little desk?"

I had to write an essay on saving America from communists. That and the pledge of allegiance really annoyed me, I figure the latter was mind control. I had to write a really LONG essay for that one
 
Fearandloathing said:
Kind of reminds me when I first moved to the states, in grade school we used to have air raid drills, a siren would would all dive under our desks. One day I asked "why"? If its a nuclear attack what's the point of hiding under a silly little desk?"

I had to write an essay on saving America from communists. That and the pledge of allegiance really annoyed me, I figure the latter was mind control. I had to write a really LONG essay for that one
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Gee Whizz FAL. Always such a rabble-rouser? Against the 'flow'? Yeah, I can see that.

Me? I just grumble about the bull****.
 
Fearandloathing said:
Kind of reminds me when I first moved to the states, in grade school we used to have air raid drills, a siren would would all dive under our desks. One day I asked "why"? If its a nuclear attack what's the point of hiding under a silly little desk?"

I had to write an essay on saving America from communists. That and the pledge of allegiance really annoyed me, I figure the latter was mind control. I had to write a really LONG essay for that one
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I thought I was special with my private corner in each class. If you want to find out about punishment try splashing water from a puddle on a nun. They attack like a wasp.
 
PIPEWRENCH said:
I thought I was special with my private corner in each class. If you want to find out about punishment try splashing water from a puddle on a nun. They attack like a wasp.
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How is it possible that a Nun could ever be a WASP? :wink:
 
PIPEWRENCH said:
I thought I was special with my private corner in each class. If you want to find out about punishment try splashing water from a puddle on a nun. They attack like a wasp.
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I know all about nuns and corporal punishment. However I was never deliberate in my actions. Most of my trouble with authority stemmed from a deep sense of justice. In Jr. High we were told to write an essay "Better Dead than Red". I got detention for asking if we could write "Better Red than Dead".

It was an interesting time. I had move from rural Ontario and was being filled with all this crap about the Bill of Rights. By the time I hit high school I was dubious, by my senior year I knew that the US constitution was bull****. "Right of assembly?" My ass, I was arrested four time for........standing with some other people and chanting "no more war."

People didn't really have rights then, and have less since the Patriot Act was passed
 
Fearandloathing said:
I know all about nuns and corporal punishment. However I was never deliberate in my actions.
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Another kid splashed water on me so I got my knuckles cracked with the ruler. The Nun could care less that I was the victim. So in anger I splashed her with water. In the principal office I said if I am going to get punished I will do something wrong. My parents were called in and naturally no one cared that I was punished for doing nothing wrong. Typical authority.

Fearandloathing said:
People didn't really have rights then, and have less since the Patriot Act was passed
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It is sad how much freedom we have lost to a government that is supposed to serve the people.

As far as the topic goes our day is coming. The one you can't foresee coming is unfortunate. The sad part is we continue to build in harms way and refuse to take preventive measures till after the damage is done. This is not unfortunate but a matter of reaping what you sow. Just as Katrina proved that repairing the levees after the disaster is a sign of our ignorance. So was the lack of evacuating 10's thousands of people leaving them to die in the wake of a category 5 hurricane. When you combine incompetence and ignorance it is not an unfortunate accident.
 
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