Sky, Falling
No, it isn’t the economy this time. It’s the sky … falling. ABC:
Astronomers have (called) for more funding to watch southern skies, after an asteroid took sky-gazers by surprise and entered the earth’s atmosphere over Africa yesterday.
Yesterday morning astronomers in Arizona reported seeing a tiny asteroid, which they described as a new but routine fast-moving object.
Before long, scientists at the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center (MPC) in Massachusetts had calculated the object was likely to pass within one Earth’s radius of the centre of the planet.
That means it would have struck the surface of the Earth if had been big enough.
Gareth Williams, associate director of the MPC, spoke to AM shortly before the asteroid entered the earth’s atmosphere.
“We estimate that it’s about two metres across with a probable range of one to five metres. Something that small will not survive passage through the atmosphere intact,” he predicted.
The asteroid was due to come down over Sudan in North Africa, at night, in an area with no observatories and few astronomers.
Mr Williams says it will have most likely broken into many small pieces, raining small chunks of rock on the landscape below.
“Many people look up into the night sky and are familiar with seeing meteors,” he said.
“Well those are objects the size of a grain of sand burning up in the atmosphere. Something the size of a football will cause a brilliant fireball.
“This thing is two metres across. It’s going to cause a ‘humdinger’ of a fireball.”
Stargazers in Sudan may have also heard the asteroid collide with the atmosphere, making a wooshing or humming sound.
Followed no doubt by a lot of “Allahu akhbars!” Too bad the Bushitler regime, or maybe even Ban Ki-moon didn’t have the presence of mind to announce a terrible new weapon, The Crusader’s Sword, or Wrath of Christ, or Security Council Resolution of the Gods, something like that, was going to be demonstrated in the skies over Sudan.
Anyway, just goes to how, if the global warming crowd wants to get worked up about the end of the world, they could start agitating for more money to find the estimated hundreds of untracked Earth-devastating-sized asteroids out there, and some kid of plan for what we’re going to do when we find one headed our way. Much like climate change, it has happened repeatedly in Earth’s 4.5 billion years, only with significantly accelerated dramatic effect and limited adaption options. Could also make that economy thing look like a picnic.
Topics: impending doom!, science
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:24 pm on Wednesday, October 8, 2008
3 Responses to “Sky, Falling”
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October 8th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
I’m glad the LSM covered that for us. (I first saw it a few minutes ago on Watts Up With That. The weather guy!)
October 8th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Uh oh, watch out. Where there’s one, there’s always another one.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:31 am
Cool! No doubt it’ll be better than last night’s debate.