It's the End... Comet incoming

johncj8989 · 10-12-2006, 07:03 PM

Heard this on a radio news broadcast the other day then googled it. It was reported in Pravda and is starting to get some pub.

A russian astronomer has spotted an inbound comet and according to his calculations we are in its projected trajectory. Projected impact date... late October 2006.

I was told by an acquaintance of mine that has a history in NEO research that while many are writing this off as another hoax...it is being looked at pretty seriously by the skywatcher community but lips are tight. Hmmmmm?

Quack material...or truth. You decide.

http://english.pravda.ru/science/earth/84913-0

kach22i · kach22i's Garage

Aztec and Mayan calendars end in 2012.

Porsche-O-Phile · Porsche-O-Phile's Garage

The one on my wall ends on October 31! We're f*cked!

johncj8989 · 10-12-2006, 07:22 PM

If it hits us...... clearly it's the fault of George W.

CJFusco · CJFusco's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by kach22i
Aztec and Mayan calendars end in 2012.

Beat me to it. Pretty much every nut they have on COAST TO COAST AM cites 2012 as "the end of the world as we know it"

Zero10 · 10-12-2006, 07:27 PM

Hmm, not publicized by any of the respected astrophysical news sources = not happening
That or it's all some big coverup, depends who you listen to

trekkor · 10-12-2006, 07:50 PM

Hi there...

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

Does this mean I don't have to make the car payment?

M.D. Holloway · 10-12-2006, 08:28 PM

I'll bet you a $1000 it doesn't create any major problems if it does hit.

dd74 · 10-12-2006, 08:32 PM

That cute crater in Az was supposedly comet-caused.

No, not the Grand Canyon...

bell · bell's Garage

so here's a question for you all should something of enormous magnitude hits earth.....
what are you going to do?
if something that large happens i can only imagine how crazy the population is going to respond, people do stupid things when they're hungry.
the key to survival is going to be to get away from the population and the dependency of infrastructure (gas/supermarkets/utilities).
look what happened when part of the US lost power for a few days....people were freaking out like it was the end of the world....when in fact they simply couldn't watch sienfeld or fill up their gas tanks to go to mcdonald's.
imagine when the end of the modern world is actually upon us.

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

dd74 · 10-12-2006, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bell
so here's a question for you all should something of enormous magnitude hits earth.....
what are you going to do?

Move in with Fastpat.

bell · bell's Garage

won't be able to copy/paste when there is no internet

pwd72s · 10-12-2006, 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dd74
That cute crater in Az was supposedly comet-caused.

No, not the Grand Canyon...

You may be confusing comet and asteroid?

LeRoux Strydom · 10-12-2006, 10:27 PM

Isn't a comet and an asteroid pretty similar? Maybe different size, and a comet emits gases which you see as the comet's tail which an asteroid doesn't. I imagine a strike by either will leave a mark.

911pcars · 10-12-2006, 10:34 PM

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

dd74 · 10-13-2006, 12:36 AM

Quote:

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

Yeah. Could be. It happened so long ago. All I remember is it was really cold afterward.

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

As usual, television has already solved this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Big_Piece_of_Garbage

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

Quote:

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.

Where to begin?

The Shuttle is only capable of low earth orbit. Once it gets to low earth orbit, it has only enough fuel for re-entry. To accomplish what would need to be done, you don't need much of a push, the farther away you start. But you need to start multiple million miles away to use a push to get it to miss. It all depends on the size of the Asteroid or comet.

svandamme · svandamme's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by red-beard
Where to begin?

The Shuttle is only capable of low earth orbit. Once it gets to low earth orbit, it has only enough fuel for re-entry. To accomplish what would need to be done, you don't need much of a push, the farther away you start. But you need to start multiple million miles away to use a push to get it to miss. It all depends on the size of the Asteroid or comet.

dude, don't be so negative, the shuttle can go refuel at the space station, Exxon will send up a minimum wage fuelstation attendant to operate it...

besides, this "we gonna die end of this month" crap was all done earlier this year, by that frenchie

http://www.savelivesinmay.com/

who has misteriously gone silent somewhere in june following a statement that the US governement , avoided the disaster by cancelling the premtive nuke strike policy or something...

it was quite the laugh