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[shintoki]

Terraforming. An end goal no matter how long it will take. Because say it takes us centuries to find the secret to make a previously inhospitable planet able to house a sizable population, then it's better to start that process BEFORE we're given a time limit.

If we were given news tomorrow that an asteroid the size of Europe was on a direct collision course with Earth and will DEFINITELY hit ninety years from now, I guarantee you that we wouldn't be sitting on our asses, but instead exploring every single option available to us.

Whatever gets us closer to space travel is okay with me. I want my Gundam.

 

[Talon]

Jesus Christ, this website is obviously just trawling for shit.

We have asteroids passing by within a few hundred thousand miles every few months. NASA has a website where they log all the asteroids predicted to come within spitting distance of Earth within the next 100 years or so.

 

[Koomaster]

So one missed us by half the distance to the moon - I don't understand this. If it passed so close, wouldn't it be larger than the moon in the night sky? And if so, where are the news reports or pictures of this.

Or do they just mean that if it's orbit were half the distance to the moon closer to earth that it would have been drawn in or something?

 

[cameron]

So one missed us by half the distance to the moon - I don't understand this. If it passed so close, wouldn't it be larger than the moon in the night sky? And if so, where are the news reports or pictures of this.

Or do they just mean that if it's orbit were half the distance to the moon closer to earth that it would have been drawn in or something?

Note the size:

The asteroid passed by Earth, missing our planet by only 139,500 miles or slightly more than half the distance to the moon, according to NASA. The rocky body, estimated at between 50-165 feet across (15-50 meters), allowed astronomers to observe how the rare eclipse appears during flyby.

 

[Vibed]

The almost depressing thing is that no matter how much we try to avoid it, in all likelihood at some point in eternity we will become extinct, just not as soon as every other species.

 

[Kurtofan]

Par Toutatis!

 

[GaimeGuy]

So did we not know about them until they came by?

is there a probability that something like that actually hitting earth would be a surprise?

A gamma ray burst could strike us at any time, vpaorizing the whole planet in an instant.

We wouldn't even know we'd been hit.

Spoiler

It would just destroy about 30% of the ozone layer in an instant, exposing the side of the earth facing the burst to lethal radiation and causing a mass extinction event

 

[Kurtofan]

A gamma ray burst could strike us at any time, vpaorizing the whole planet in an instant.

We wouldn't even know we'd been hit.

Spoiler

It would just destroy about 30% of the ozone layer in an instant, exposing the side of the earth facing the burst to lethal radiation and causing a mass extinction event

Oh yes we know when.

21 December 2012. Prepare the Hulk mutations.

 

[-COOLIO-]

dont these things tend to come in packs? astroid hitting on december 21st anyone?

 

[verbum]

dont these things tend to come in packs? astroid hitting on december 21st anyone?

Look outside around 4 AM if the sky is clear, dozens of meteors tonight.

 

[Teknoman]

Look outside around 4 AM if the sky is clear, dozens of meteors tonight.

Awesome, its clear for me tonight.

 

[phaonaut]

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9jv7j_neil-degrasse-tyson-on-apophis_tech#.UMmk24OCnDs

I love his ability to explain things.

 

[Xavien]

So the only one that came close to actually hitting us was tiny and wouldn't cause that much of an impact even if it did hit us.

The other was an asteroid which we've known about for decades and swings past us every 4 years with zero chance of hitting us for 600 years.

So, er talk about being overblown.

 

[marrec]

So the only one that came close to actually hitting us was tiny and wouldn't cause that much of an impact even if it did hit us.

The other was an asteroid which we've known about for decades and swings past us every 4 years with zero chance of hitting us for 600 years.

So, er talk about being overblown.

Ya, depending on where it hit it could have taken out a moderately sized city. That is, if it even made it to the ground, what it was made of, and the impact velocity and trajectory. In other words, not much of a threat to you or me.

 

[RPGamer92]

Someone missed summoning meteo.

 

[Piano]

No those were just my balls.

why did I laugh.

 

[DiscoPower]

Cool way to go.

 

[speculawyer]

You can thank me. I plugged a lot of quarters into that machine in the 80's, got a lot of high scores, and then some guy took me on a secret mission.

 

[H_Prestige]

A gamma ray burst could strike us at any time, vpaorizing the whole planet in an instant.

We wouldn't even know we'd been hit.

Spoiler

It would just destroy about 30% of the ozone layer in an instant, exposing the side of the earth facing the burst to lethal radiation and causing a mass extinction event

Oh man, I remember watching a documentary on that once. Freaking scary shit.