It's the End... Comet incoming

[Bill Verburg]

The earlier an effort is made to alter the orbit of an object with an path that intersects Earths the less energy is required to alter the orbit enough to miss because only a small change in velocity is needed. Conversely the closer it is the more energy is needed because a larger D v is called for. I read the study youare reffering to it is valid, the gravitational pull of a shuttle if efffected early enough could work. But the devil is in the details, you have to get way further out than any shuttle has ever gone to do it. Other schemes that have merit are very large solar sails, very large solar collectors that beam sunlight timed precisely to cause a rocket effect to errupt form the surface.

There are some fairly large objects that pop up unnoticed on a regular basis

Originally posted by 911pcars
Someone tell me if I've been smoking the wrong (or right) stuff.

I half overheard on NPR of a scientist who was credited with the "simple" solution to this potential scenario.

His claim was that the space shuttle or equivalent could rendevouz with said asteroid/comet and position itself thusly. With thrust rockets or whatever to position the shuttle ass-facing the rock, allow the gravitational pull of the mass to pull it downward. At the correct moment, engine(s) fire. The forward thrust is throttled just enough to offset the gravitational pull. The result is the shuttle will then accelerate just fast enough to balance the gravitational pull and tow the comet in whatever direction the shuttle wants to travel. All it would take is a minute change in course at some gazillion mile distance to offset the original course.

Who needs Bruce Willis and his cowboy crew now?

So what do the forum scientists and Howard Johnson residents think of this? Doable or do we just nuke the hell out of whatever moves our way in outer space?

Sherwood

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Only one thing to do then. . . Bring on the hookers, booze and drugs!

[Drdogface]

Originally posted by pwd72s
You may be confusing comet and asteroid?

Actually it was a meteor..they said about the size of a VW. Was there a few years back. It's just off I-40 near Winslow.

[lendaddy]

Originally posted by bell

remember.....soylent green is made of people.

Soylent Green IS people

[Porsche-O-Phile]

You're talking about Meteor Crater. Been there. Interesting but the "museum" looks like it hasn't seen facilities maintenance in about 40 years. The crater is pretty well-preserved and impressive though.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally posted by Porsche-O-Phile
The one on my wall ends on October 31! We're f*cked!

The one on my garage wall ended in 2002... She was... er I mean it was... a very good month...

[Freybird]

Emo Phillips has the answer: "All we gotta do is time it so at impact the US is out of the way....once again, Canada gets a free ride."

[cstreit]

I heard N. Korea is planning on nuking the asteriod...

[charleskieffner]

fly over winslow and view meteor crater from the air. project mercury looks the same! not one damn thing different except some of project mercurys holes are wider. be it asteroid or meteor both are nickel based and very heat resistant. very hard on rockwell scale of hardness.

just viewed a PBS show regarding molten magma building below earths crust. hence geothermal hot springs. the water below ground is being super heated by magma close to surface. bottom line around the globe there are a number of these areas. and some are reaching critical mass. jellystone (yellowstone park) is one of them. upon venting, the amount of particulates released will block out the sun, is equal to mega mega nuke-lar weapons, and will really put the damper on track days for all of us.

sooooo.............be it asteroid/meteor/massive magma eruptions(krakatoa was a low level example),iran, north korea,..................... we is ALL GONNA DIE!

im putting my aluminum foil helmet on NOW!

[svandamme]

Originally posted by Porsche-O-Phile
Only one thing to do then. . . Bring on the hookers, booze and drugs!

pm me for orders, i will offer discounts for group buys

[fastpat]

Take a look at NASA's Near Earth Object web site.

I think you can get to a site that has projected orbits of any object considered 'near earth" as it passess. There was one asteroid that passed pretty close 3-4 years ago.

[Superman]

Comets and asteroids differ in the same way a 917-30 differs from a Vespa. Comets come into our solar system hook around the Sun and wave bye-bye in a few days.

[BRPORSCHE]

Originally posted by charleskieffner

just viewed a PBS show regarding molten magma building below earths crust. hence geothermal hot springs. the water below ground is being super heated by magma close to surface. bottom line around the globe there are a number of these areas. and some are reaching critical mass. jellystone (yellowstone park) is one of them. upon venting, the amount of particulates released will block out the sun, is equal to mega mega nuke-lar weapons, and will really put the damper on track days for all of us.

sooooo.............be it asteroid/meteor/massive magma eruptions(krakatoa was a low level example),iran, north korea,..................... we is ALL GONNA DIE!

im putting my aluminum foil helmet on NOW!

Yeah super calderas are a biatch, and the sweet thing is that yellowstone is at time "0." It isn't if it going to go off it is when. Oh yeah and don't forget about Tambora, Krakatoa's big brother. Indonesia is teeming with volcanic activity. There was so much water around that the magma caused a Phreatic eruption. There is no Tambora island anymore since it blew up and then the rest fell into the magma chamber under the sea. COOL STUFF!

[cashflyer]

Well... I guess it's time to start digging up my oil drums full of weapons and ammo.

[charleskieffner]

the massive eruptions plunged planet earth into a rather fridgid state for quite some time. now was it the meteorite off cozumel, or massive magma venting, that made DINO and his bruddahs seek whatever close REI or NORTH FACE store for arctic/antarctic fashionable down clothing !

either way geologically, things aint KOSHER!

lets see............count the ways of massive humanoid eradication.

1)massive magma venting

2)asteroids/comets/meteors

3) e-coli from farm products

4)osama

5)tsunamis

6)nuke-lar warfare

7)drought

8) global warming

have i missed any???

just the visual of DINO and his bruddahs all bundled up in NORTH FACE EXPEDITION clothes cracks me up!

cockroaches wearing down vests! LOL!

[dhoward]

Originally posted by Superman
Comets and asteroids differ in the same way a 917-30 differs from a Vespa. Comets come into our solar system hook around the Sun and wave bye-bye in a few days.

Actually the comets have a more elliptical orbit, true, but the real difference is in the makeup. Comets are more like dirty snowballs. Hence the offgassing and vaporization, which creates the visible 'tail'.
Asteroids are big rocks.

[red-beard]

Originally posted by charleskieffner
have i missed any???

Bird Flu

[onlycafe]

does this mean we don't get to find out about 165 mph/8500rpm ?

[JeremyD]

Originally posted by onlycafe
does this mean we don't get to find out about 165 mph/8500rpm ?

I think this is the only way to get the blue targa to 165.

[charleskieffner]

i can promise the blue targa will do as advertised if its any where close to ground zero in the event of mega magma burst or comet/meteor! more than likely cube those figures, if he drives on the PYROCLASTIC HIGHWAY!

wow i forgot bird flu and AIDS!

with all of this darkness surrounding our puney existence on this puny planet......EVERY MORNING WE SEE IS A REASON TO PARTY LIKE THERES NO TOMMORROW!