From time to time I try to be an FYI blog…..giving my readers something besides my usual lip about the government or the situations we find ourselves having to deal with…..here we go another attempt on my part….
Almost weekly we read about this asteroid or that that is coming to our little corner of the universe….mostly they fly by without incident even though it was headed directly for us.
Americans are more worried about an asteroid strike than life on Mars….
Polling more than 10,000 respondents, Pew found that a whopping 60 percent of Americans said their top priority for NASA was to “monitor asteroids [and] other objects that could hit the Earth,” with roughly half of those 10,000 adding that “monitor[ing] key parts of the Earth’s climate system” was among their top desired goals for the agency.
Their fears could very well be a reality….
A comet named 12P/Pons-Brooks is speeding toward us as I type…..
An unusual volcanic comet flying toward the sun appears to have “grown horns” after it exploded, causing it to shine like a small star and shower supercold “magma” into space. It is the first time this comet has been seen erupting in almost 70 years.
The comet, named 12P/Pons-Brooks (12P), is a cryovolcanic — or cold volcano — comet. Like all other comets, the icy object is made up of a solid nucleus, filled with a mix of ice, dust and gas, and is surrounded by a fuzzy cloud of gas called a coma, which leaks out of the comet’s interior. But unlike most other comets, the gas and ice inside 12P’s nucleus build up so much that the celestial object can violently explode, shooting out its frosty guts, known as cryomagma, through large cracks in the nucleus’s shell.
On July 20, multiple astronomers detected a major outburst from the comet, which suddenly became around 100 times brighter than it usually appears, Spaceweather.com reported. This increase in brightness occurred when the comet’s coma suddenly swelled up with gas and ice crystals released from the comet’s interior, allowing it to reflect more sunlight back to Earth.
Let’s say instead of passing in close proximity it made a turn and hits the earth….how will we cope?
I am glad you asked.
Let’s say for a moment you want to camp alongside the dinosaurs. But not just any dinosaurs. You want to camp alongside the most famous. The most fearsome. So let’s say you spin the dials on a time machine to 66.5 million years ago and you travel back to the late Cretaceous period.
There’s the tyrannosaurus hunting the triceratops. There’s the alamosaurus, one of the largest creatures to ever walk the earth. There’s the tank-like ankylosaurus crushing opponents with its wrecking-ball tail. And just as you settle down on one particular evening, there’s a brand-new star in the northern hemisphere sky.
The star won’t flash, flare up, or blaze across the horizon. It will appear as stationary and as twinkly as all the others. But look again a few hours later and you might think this new star seems a little brighter. Look again the next night and it will be the brightest star in the sky. Then it will outshine the planets. Then the moon. Then the sun. Then it will streak through the atmosphere, strike the earth, and unleash 100 million times more energy than the largest thermonuclear device ever detonated. You’ll want to pack up your tent before then. And maybe move to the other side of the planet.
The day the Chicxulub asteroid slammed into what is now a small town on Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula that bears its name is the most consequential moment in the history of life on our planet. In a prehistoric nanosecond, the reign of the dinosaurs ended and the rise of mammals began. Not only did the impact exterminate every dinosaur save for a few ground-nesting birds, it killed every land mammal larger than a raccoon. In a flash, Earth began one of the most apocalyptical periods in its history. Could you survive it? Maybe.
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-to-survive-a-killer-asteroid
You might want to read this closely for the possibility is there for an asteroid hitting the earth at any time.
Fore armed is fore warned.
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
As long as I can remember, ther has always been a ‘deadly’ asteroid about to hit the Earth and wipe us all out. Luckily, I got to the age of 71 without that happening. So if this new one finally evaporates me, I won’t care that much. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
Yes I know what you mean and we have been a hair’s breath away from nuclear holocaust as well……I just love the things some people have to worry about…..chuq
The chances of an asteroid hitting Earth are actually quite low. In fact, the last time a large asteroid hit Earth was about 66 million years ago, when the Chicxulub asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs. However, there are still a number of smaller asteroids that could potentially hit Earth, and scientists are constantly monitoring the skies for any potential threats.
According to NASA, the odds of an asteroid impact that could cause widespread damage are about 1 in 700,000. However, the odds of an asteroid impact that could cause a global catastrophe are much lower, about 1 in 100 million.
Scientists are constantly working to improve our ability to detect and track asteroids, and they have a number of plans in place to deflect or destroy any asteroids that pose a serious threat to Earth. So, while the chances of an asteroid hitting Earth are low, we are not completely defenseless against such a threat.
I do not see any plan that is 100%….chuq
No plan is ever 100%
Exactly chuq
An excellent link, chuq! Read the whole thing. Totally interesting. You are correct…. if you are not fore armed and fore warned you definitely stand the chance of being fore skinned… alive.
Thanx Doug nice to see at least you read the link….much appreciated chuq