I thought this was VERY interesting.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Spring Meteors Spotlight Hunt for Giant Global Killer Meteors

By D. Morgan
CNN/Reuters/

posted: 04:15 pm ET
March 28, 2002

PHILADELPHIA (CNN/Reuters/) - just a few days ago the site of a fiery meteor streaking across the daytime skies of the northeastern United States gave a once-in-a-lifetime thrill to those lucky enough to witness it.
Due to the suns position however, there was no previous warning as it approached Earth undetected.

A collision with an asteroid the size of asteroid Eros would be more devastating than the impact believed to have killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. This may sound like Science Fiction, but scientists at NASA, the Bell observatory and at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory have gotten together for an emergency Lunar meeting. NASA has also now confirmed that the Peekskill meteor hit in New York in '93 was from a "first wave" piece off from an asteroid due to come very close to Earth early this summer. But just how can humanity avoid this fate?
Scientists warn a similar celestial display over a highly populated region of Earth could be a harbinger of death and devastation for millions on the ground, if this coming meteor happens to even be an asteroid as small as 99 feet in diameter.

``It would destroy a city just like a nuclear bomb would, but for a lack of radiation, said Jim Scotti, a planetary scientist who hunts asteroids and comets for the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory near Tucson. He is currently one of the main scientists working closely with NASA on this oncoming Meteor.

``On the other hand, there's the potential for civilization ending, because larger objects -- a kilometer (0.62 mile) or so in diameter -- are big enough to change climate on a global scale. And objects larger still, say 10 or 20 kilometers (6.2-12.4 miles) in diameter, could cause mass extinction.''
Recently a colorful fireball witnessed by thousands of people from southeastern Ontario to northern Virginia is believed to have been caused by a stony chunk of asteroid no larger than a suitcase, which exploded in the atmosphere 10 to 20 miles above the Earth's surface.

But the void of space that envelopes the solar system near Earth is a speedway for much larger objects such as asteroids and comets, some the size of Manhattan, which have periodically slammed into the planet, causing cataclysmic changes from the extinction of the dinosaurs to the birth of the moon.

The largest and most destructive objects have not posed a problem in our more recent past. But every century or so, Earth is struck by smaller apartment-building-size asteroids capable of devastating a geographic region.

``This is what we are watching now'', stated Jim Scotti. ``This thing is very large. If our calculations are correct, it could come within a few hundred miles of Earth. If that happens, even if the Earths gravitational pull does not pull it into the Earths atmosphere, it will still cause us extreme climate and gravitational issues on a global scale''

On June 30, 1908, an object 165 feet wide is believed to have exploded 6.2 miles over the Tunguska region of Siberia with the force of a 10-megaton hydrogen bomb. Four hundred square miles of forest were flattened, untold numbers of reindeer were roasted and a man standing 60 miles away was knocked unconscious. This oncoming Meteor is big enough that it is said most of it will not break apart if it enters the Earths atmosphere. It's estimated size is currently being calculated in miles, not feet.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Also, if you want to see the actual footage of the Peekskill Meteor that is apparently off of this larger Meteor go to this site:
http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/Videos/StarChild/solar_system/fireball.mov

Edited to put in the video link address

[This message has been edited by Fiero5 (edited 04-04-2002).]

WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!

Usually they would put a date..

quote Originally posted by Fiero5: ``This thing is very large. If our calculations are correct, it could come within a few hundred miles of Earth. If that happens, even if the Earths gravitational pull does not pull it into the Earths atmosphere, it will still cause us extreme climate and gravitational issues on a global scale''

the gravitational issues should be fun

------------------
Adam J. B.
The search for a GT will never end!
IM AOL: GTFiero & Rumpdetective (dont ask)

I was wondering about a date too.
I was just talking to one of the science teachers here at the school.
He said that it is possible that they won't release the "hit or miss" date. That would be done by some sort of press conference cleared or done by the Pentegon and/or the White House.
Cool!

Well, that's ONE way to end the fighting in the Middle east!

You forgot to mention something: The timeline for this impact is 900 years away!

*edit*

Oh, and it won't be that bad... We're due for an iceage before then anyway. We survived the last one, this will be no different.

[This message has been edited by Mach10 (edited 04-04-2002).]

I sent an e-mail to one of the bigger Science teachers here and this is his reply I just got.
I am going to go down and see him right now.
Steve

>>>>>>>>>>
Steve Kelley writes:
Carl, have you heard about this? This seems to be a very important thing I am not hearing about!
Steve

---

Yes, but as I understand it, we are in no immediate danger. This is just a warning.
Consider the gigantic three-dimensionality of space in which we are a speck, and so are the meteors. Two specks hitting one another is like the Whos in Whoville being heard (Dr. Seuss).

-Carl
>>>>>>>>>>

Disc, A&E, TLC, History channels have all had specials on this. If it comes it comes, and nothing we do could stop it. Imagine it as a mountain, coming at you at 30,000 miles an hour.........even if you blow it to bits, youd have millions of missiles then, coming anyway.

Anyone wanna buy a Ferraro and Corvette reallllllllly cheap? LOL

The question is, what are we going to do about it?

Should the public even be informed about a pending impact?

900 years away? Where does it say that?

Yes... because if i find out that there is only like two weeks for the entire planet to live... i'll do all the things in life i haven't yet

quote Originally posted by pHoOl: Yes... because if i find out that there is only like two weeks for the entire planet to live... i'll do all the things in life i haven't yet

Like being robbed and sodomized by a roving gang, for example?

Don't think for a second that warning of such a cataclysmic event would bring out the best in humankind.

I found an article on the web that said this same one that just missed us (it was 1.2 times farther away as the moon is) might hit us in 2093 - thats 90 years from now, not 900.

This astoride was only big enough to take out a city - so if they accurately track one, and have two weeks warning of where it will hit, thats plenty of time to evacuate a city, or even half a state.

Truth is we dont know what will happen if even a BIG one hits us - all they have are theories and speculation - and scientists predictions are wrong more than they are right - way wrong.

Good point, I guess it depends on the size of the asteroid/meteor. If it is a relatively small one and is projected to cause only localized damage, then by all means the residents of the projected impact zone should be alerted and assisted in evacuating the area. I would still expect widespread pandemonium as people awaited the impact. There would surely be rioting in the big cities.

But roger mentioned something the size of a mountain impacting us. I don't know what the rest of you consider to be a mountain, but when I look off my deck I see Mt Rainier, all ice covered 14,000+ ft of it. Somehow I suspect something of that magnitude colliding with our planet is probably going to greatly affect more than just a city or two. It would be the end of civilization as we know it and maybe even mankind itself.

[This message has been edited by BN Boomer (edited 04-04-2002).]

funny you shold put it that way - one of the seven judgments in the book of revelation is that something "like a mountian" will fall into the sea, and 1/7 th of the population of the earth will be wiped out.

It won't be the end of everything. Most evidence that we have points to a "nuclear winter." Basically an ice-age...

However, we're due for one before then, anyway!

If you go on CNN, and look for the article, it says it clear as day on the title: 900 years.

I'm not terribly concerned. Not much we can do about it, so why worry? I suppose we could hurl everything we had at it, and it would fragment, pelting the earth with smaller chunks. Those would burn up, and we may not have the cataclysmic impact... But the dust will be there, and it will muddy things up quite a fair bit!

OK, I just got back from the science dept.
Mr. Merbach says that this is the meteor that they (NASA or whoever) have been tracking for about a year now. He said that about six months ago they tried to do an accurate calculation on it's destination near us and estimated that it would miss us by millions of miles. He said that that would still be close enough to effect us, but on a minute scale. Slightly change the gulf stream or something I guess.
Now they have apparently done another calculation and it may pass much closer than they originally thought.
He also said that if NASA has now said that the Peekskill meteor is a part of that larger peice, then we could be in big doo doo. That is because that piece actually hit Earth. He did say that it is possible that something else hit that bigger meteor breaking smaller pieces off and this one is one from that and it's direction was off to one side a bit. Over millions of miles a slight deviation at first turns into many miles over time. He was just guessing to add a tone of possible good news.

He said the real danger here is not if the thing hits us. He says he would be very surprised if it actually did. He said however that it is more likely that if this thing passes close enough, even many hundreds or thousands of miles away, it will throw off the moon and Earths pull on each other. He said that many people think the Moon orbits the Earth. He said that is incorrect. They both orbit each other technically. He said our oceans, atmosphere, seasons and everything are directly related to the gravitational pull between the Earth and the Moon.
Even the slightest effect on this very delicate balance wouyld be catastrphic to the Earth and everything oin it.

Steve

this is the one that just missed us a few days ago, from the CNN news site:

"According to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2002 EM7 could smack into Earth in 2093. "

there are stories all over the tech news pages now about the other one, which has a 1:300 chance of hitting us in 2880.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/asteroid_deflection_020404.html

[This message has been edited by Ken Wittlief (edited 04-04-2002).]

Wow! Go to a British news web site and do a search about meteors or asteroids. Do they know something we don't yet?
They are gearing up for a possible meteor asteroid threat.
This is getting very scarry!
Check this out:
>>>>>>>>
http://news.bbc.co.uk/html/dailyarchive/article2001-0821.html

I-BBC News for August 21, 2001
NASA
Britain Working on Response to Asteroid
Threat

British Science Minister David Sainsbury released details today
about a research centre in the works that will help increase public
understanding of the threat of Near Earth Asteroids. The
government hopes to open the centre in early next year with $360,000 of funds provided for operation.

Internet Coverage: Yahoo News
Similar Stories: Asteroids
Related Sites: Asteroids
Related Books: Asteroid

>>>>>>>>>

Notice that the date of that was last year.

Edited because of stupid PC :-(

[This message has been edited by Fiero5 (edited 04-04-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Fiero5 (edited 04-04-2002).]

that much money would pay for maybe 3 employees, 4 tops.

they cant be too serious about this stuff!

"this is the one that just missed us a few days ago, from the CNN news site:"

Is it possible that that one was another piece from the bigger one still coming?

Steve

Don't forget, these are the guys who are not able to accurately predict the weather two days in advance.

Seems to me there isn't a whole lot we can do anyway.

If my memory serves me right, an asteroid the size of several football fields hit the Yucatan in Mexico, causing an underwater crater several hundred miles across, killed everything including dinosaurs, dust orbited the whole planet for years allowing no sunlite thru, and causing the ice age where the only moving thing on the planet was waves in the oceans. Its not just the size of the meteor, its the speed. Look at the damage a hi powered rifle slug (maybe 1/4 inch) does in relation to what it hits. Obliterates something like a watermelon. Now make that same rifle shot travel 20 times faster.........Dont worry, theres nothing anyone would be able to do except evacuate the planet.

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: If my memory serves me right, an asteroid the size of several football fields hit the Yucatan in Mexico, causing an underwater crater several hundred miles across, killed everything including dinosaurs, dust orbited the whole planet for years allowing no sunlite thru, and causing the ice age where the only moving thing on the planet was waves in the oceans. Its not just the size of the meteor, its the speed. Look at the damage a hi powered rifle slug (maybe 1/4 inch) does in relation to what it hits. Obliterates something like a watermelon. Now make that same rifle shot travel 20 times faster.........Dont worry, theres nothing anyone would be able to do except evacuate the planet.

Ice-ages are WAY overrated. All that really happens is that the polar caps expand towards the equator. The sea level drops significantly, and average temperatures decrease. However, the equators turn into temperate plains and savanahh desert. After a good hit, the dust will settle in a few years. Enough time to drop the average temps CONSIDERABLY, and start off the ice-age.

But anyone at the equator should be ok, provided they can find water!

:crawls out of his hole:
What!!??!?!?!
Is this serious or just a joke?
What is the real timeframe for such a thing.

A liitle bit of trivia -
During the (US's) search for Osama, the one where we still do not know where he is, he was on BBC doing interview's. Weird??

i just watched CNN and they said that it might hit the earth....in 2886 (or something like that) . i dont think we have to worry about it.

quote ...asteroids and comets... ...causing cataclysmic changes from the extinction of the dinosaurs to the birth of the moon.

"Is this serious or just a joke?
What is the real timeframe for such a thing."

Yes, it is. As far as an actual time frame though, nothing that has been published publicly yet?
Anyone snagged any kind of time frame off the web yet? Someone has to have slipped up and posted one somewhere.
I can't find anything specific so far. I feel like I am in a conspiracy theory movie, and the government is keeping important crap from us

quote Originally posted by Cheever3000: We gonna party like it's 2-8-8-5 !!! *

I believe the proper lyric would be "We're gonna party like it's 28-85".

[This message has been edited by BN Boomer (edited 04-04-2002).]

"i just watched CNN and they said that it might hit the earth....in 2886 (or something like that) . i dont think we have to worry about it."

Very true. But that one is not the one that is coming so close to Earth in only a few months that we will be able to smell it.
Something is really fishy here. There is enough information out there that states that we are only a few months away from possibly something really nasty and now we aren't hearing a peep about it?
What's wrong with this picture.

Hmm... Panic-monger, much?

If it's near, would you REALLY want to know about it, knowing that NOTHING you can possibly do will help?

Not I. If it happens, I want to find out approximately 30 minutes before impact. Enough time to drive to my love's house, and wait it out together.

If it is going to happen, there is NOTHING you can do about it. We ALL die sometime. At least in THIS case it will be "Natural" rather than violent.

free mass with a large delta V
thats a good oppertunity for a
space bus if we can hitch a ride
and control it's path by throwing
small bits off it with railgun to
alter it's orbit so it could say go from earth to mars and back or out to the rock belt past mars
or just park the rock in orbit around the moon or earth and use it's mass to build in space stations and or ships
these rocks will only be a threat for a few more years soon they will become accessets
so a new one come close will start a race to claim rights to use it IF WE LAST THAT LONG!!

------------------
Question wonder and be wierd

Thanks Ray, I knew I could count on you.

"Hmm... Panic-monger, much? "

LOL Uhm, no. I do get upset though when someone moves one of my Star Trek collection out of place

"At least in THIS case it will be "Natural" rather than violent."

"Natual" rather than violent? I don't think you can get any more violent than a huge mountainous rock slamming into our planet at thousands of miles an hour and destroying all life as we know it
I could be wrong though

Oh well. Back to our regular scheduled programming. Hows that Gwen Stefani thread going?

quote Originally posted by Fiero5: "i just watched CNN and they said that it might hit the earth....in 2886 (or something like that) . i dont think we have to worry about it." Very true. But that one is not the one that is coming so close to Earth in only a few months that we will be able to smell it. Something is really fishy here. There is enough information out there that states that we are only a few months away from possibly something really nasty and now we aren't hearing a peep about it? What's wrong with this picture.

oops, sorry.

you know, this sucks

I dont think I would want to know about something like this if it was going to happen. I know most other people wouldnt want to know either. Imagine what people would do if they knew they only had a few weeks to live! I'm sure it wouldnt be calm and quiet. I'll just keep myself un-informed. When/if it happens, I will die.

------------------
James Essar
Co-Founder of NEO Fiero Club!
88 V6 Coupe 3.2L V6 With all the goodies..soon to be Turbo!
84 SE 4 speed
Stock 4, Wanna Race?

I would want to know. I think we are safe though.. don't freakin panic from Internet rumours... Any I believe there is lots we could do about. The earths gravity isn't exactly enormous. We could easily blast it I think.