26 Asteroid Impacts On Earth? SINCE 2000????

[NeoMorph]

It turns out asteroid impacts aren't as rare as we thought. This is data from the seismographs listening for atom bombs... but these aren't atom bombs...

• 8/25/2000 (1-10 kilotons) NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN
  
• 4/23/2001 (1-10 kilotons) NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN
  
• 3/9/2002 (1-10 kilotons) NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN
  
• 8/9/2006 (1-10 kilotons) INDIAN OCEAN
  
• 9/2/2006 (1-10 kilotons) INDIAN OCEAN
  
• 10/2/2006 (1-10 kilotons) ARABIAN SEA
  
• 12/9/2006 (10-20 kilotons) EGYPT
  
• 9/22/2007 (1-10 kilotons) INDIAN OCEAN
  
• 12/26/2007 (1-10 kilotons) SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN
  
• 10/7/2008 (1-10 kilotons) SUDAN
  
• 10/8/2009 (>20 kilotons) SOUTH SULAWESI, INDONESIA
  
• 9/3/2010 (10-20 kilotons) SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN
  
• 12/25/2010 (1-10 kilotons) TASMAN SEA
  
• 4/22/2012 (1-10 kilotons) CALIFORNIA, USA
  
• 2/15/2013 (>20 kilotons) CHELYABINSK, OBLAST, RUSSIA
  
• 4/21/2013 (1-10 kilotons) SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO, ARGENTINA
  
• 4/30/2013 (10-20 kilotons) NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN
  

Source: https://b612foundation.org/

Freakin mind blowing. We are practicing Asteroid defence for NASA lol.

Edited April 23, 2014 by NeoMorph

[TheExplosionist]

The earth getting hit by those is like a grain of sand hitting an elephant.

If there was a rock the size of Africa on it's way then things might get exciting.

[FREEFALL1984]

mathematically there are more chances of being killed by an asteroid impact than contracting BSE as described in great detail in the book Impact Earth by Austen Atkinson which is a actual book which anaylsis the chance of being hit, the potential options for avoidance, the measures we have taken to spot NEOs including information on the very interesting asteroid JA-1 which was 500m in diameter and came within 450000km of the earth in 1996 but was originally plotted to impact us, and nobody was informed. It also goes into what would happen if we where hit in great depths and has a fictional side story showing the breakdown of humanity during and after such an event. Its not a bad read I recommend having a look.

http://www.amazon.com/Impact-Earth-Asteroids-Meteors-The-Growing/dp/1852277890

[FenrirWolf]

See, all those asteroids floating around Kerbin isn't so farfetched after all.

[TheExplosionist]

mathematically there are more chances of being killed by an asteroid impact than contracting BSE as described in great detail in the book Impact Earth by Austen Atkinson which is a actual book which anaylsis the chance of being hit, the potential options for avoidance, the measures we have taken to spot NEOs including information on the very interesting asteroid JA-1 which was 500m in diameter and came within 450000km of the earth in 1996 but was originally plotted to impact us, and nobody was informed. It also goes into what would happen if we where hit in great depths and has a fictional side story showing the breakdown of humanity during and after such an event. Its not a bad read I recommend having a look.

http://www.amazon.com/Impact-Earth-Asteroids-Meteors-The-Growing/dp/1852277890

How recent is that book?

Recent reports indicate up to 12% of dementia cases could be CJD. I'd say it's more common than we'd like to admit. Very scary disease.

[Coldfinger008]

Well a foundation needs to be funded.

If people aren´t afraid of asteroids, they won´t spend money for defense against them.

Not saying it´s not a real threat.

But.....

how much have you done againt climate change? Against fossile fuels? Exploitation of Africa?

See? People don´t even care about problems just 100s of kilometers away, much less stuff that might be AUs away.

[Soda Popinski]

How recent is that book?

Recent reports indicate up to 12% of dementia cases could be CJD. I'd say it's more common than we'd like to admit. Very scary disease.

I'd also heard we're more likely to be killed in an extinction level event asteroid impact (roughly every 50 - 100 million years), then to be killed in an airplane crash. Of course the chances of that asteroid impact is very low, but it kills everybody. The airplane crash occurs much more frequently, but only kills the people on the plane.

I only heard about the B612 Foundation from Scott Manley's interview with astronaut and B612 founder Ed Lu. I think I gave $20 or $40 bucks to them. (to answer Coldfinger's question on climate change and fossil fuels, I try to do my part - got me on exploitation of Africa though).

[Kryten]

Of course most of those would be pretty harmless even if they'd hit near major cities. Consider the largest on that list, Chelyabinsk; hit near a pretty major city,with 20+ kilotons energy release, severely injured 2 people and killed no-one. The TNT equivalent value may sound impressive, but they're all simply too high for that to translate to major damage on the ground.

[Scotius]

But one day something big enough WILL punch through atmosphere and impact the Earth. And considering that uninhabitated parts of out planets shrink all the time, there WILL be casualties. And you know what? I'm 90% sure the main scapegoat will be NASA and rest of the space agencies because "They did not warn us before" and "They did nothing to stop it from happening" Depressing...

[Dust]

I would think the Chelyabinsk asteroid would've been an eye-opener, I know it was for me. And this infrasound monitoring data shows that there have been other encounters of that magnitude in just the last 10 years.

However, I also believe there are other more pressing matters that we need to deal with, or we will not be around long enough to worry about a global impact event.

[vger]

They're calling it "blind luck" that one of them hasn't landed in a major city yet. It'll happen, sooner or later.

Also, the fact that most of these are in such remote areas means nobody is even around to see them. Out of sight, out of mind. Sadly.

[Tex]

True, but also note where all those asteroids are hitting. Ocean, ocean, ocean. Even the ones that crashed onto land were tiny on the scale, so not much was made of them. Excluding Chelyabinsk, of course, because that was a big deal. Also it was BEAUTIFUL

[Soda Popinski]

They're calling it "blind luck" that one of them hasn't landed in a major city yet. It'll happen, sooner or later.

Also, the fact that most of these are in such remote areas means nobody is even around to see them. Out of sight, out of mind. Sadly.

If the comet that hit Tunguska showed up a few hours earlier, it could have wiped out Moscow. That would have made quite a difference to the 20th century.

[jwenting]

How recent is that book?

Recent reports indicate up to 12% of dementia cases could be CJD. I'd say it's more common than we'd like to admit. Very scary disease.

Those "reports" are mainly sponsored by radical vegan groups...

It's been well documented that BSE does not cause CJD. They're related but separate.

As to asteroids hitting the earth? Nothing new. Rocks coming down is commonplace, there's not a day going by that something doesn't hit somewhere.

[The Jedi Master]

An asteroid hits the Earth every few seconds. We call them "shooting stars". Basically, the universe is throwing sand at us.

Now, if a Tunguska-size meteor was detected heading for New York or something, that's when things could get interesting.

[vger]

Now, if a Tunguska-size meteor was detected heading for New York or something, that's when things could get interesting.

Heh, I remember when everyone thought that NYC was safe from Hurricanes. I'd been expecting to happen ever since Floyd of '99.

For just about everything I've seen of human behavior, we are almost exclusively a reactive species as a whole, and have little interest in preventative measures. Only AFTER a disaster has already happened, do we pay attention for more than five minutes.

It also doesn't help that most problems that threaten us today, are "frog on a hot plate" situations.

Edited April 23, 2014 by vger

[Stargate525]

If the comet that hit Tunguska showed up a few hours earlier, it could have wiped out Moscow. That would have made quite a difference to the 20th century.

Yep. Good luck convincing the remnants of the Soviet High Command that the US had nothing to do with it.

But honestly, 70% of our planet is covered in water. 3% of the planet is covered in what's classified 'urban.' The odds of major collateral damage are still very much in our favor.

[Pds314]

Keep in mind that few-kiloton impacts are almost certainly losing most of all of their energy in an air burst. According to the Earth impact effects program, a 25-kiloton blast from a 5-meter-wide iron-nickel asteroid entering at 5 degrees and 20 km/s would be harmless to anyone over 200 meters away from the impact site. Any attempt to enter at a steeper angle causes it to explode harmlessly.

Edited April 23, 2014 by Pds314

[Kerbart]

I'm not sure if “since 2000 we've been hit by dozens of asteroids and we didn't notice one g### ### thing†is sending the right message if you want to alert the masses about impending doom.

[Soda Popinski]

Yep. Good luck convincing the remnants of the Soviet High Command that the US had nothing to do with it.

But honestly, 70% of our planet is covered in water. 3% of the planet is covered in what's classified 'urban.' The odds of major collateral damage are still very much in our favor.

The Tunguska event predated the Soviet Union.

While true the odds are in our favor, the amount of money required to send up B612's near-Earth asteroid surveying telescope is negligible compared to the even slight risk of economic devastation of an asteroid hitting a city or wiping out mankind. At $450 million, that's just $0.06 per human or if were funded by the US Government (which it isn't), would be $1.50 per American.

Edited April 23, 2014 by Soda Popinski

[Stargate525]

The Tunguska event predated the Soviet Union.

While true the odds are in our favor, the amount of money required to send up B612's near-Earth asteroid surveying telescope is negligible compared to the even slight risk of economic devastation of an asteroid hitting a city or wiping out mankind. At $450 million, that's just $0.06 per human or if were funded by the US Government (which it isn't), would be $1.50 per American.

That's what I get for making assumptions. And I agree with you on principle. Heck, I'd like us to spend half the amount of money on NASA that politicians get running for office.

[NeoMorph]

The crazy thing is that I bet when a big roid hits us that the politicians will scream " WHY WASN'T ANYTHING DONE ABOUT THIS BEFOREHAND??? ".

It's basically a lottery where we don't want to win.... and even if the odds are small, they aren't zero which means that someday one will hit that will have a big impact (pun unintended) on the human race. So why not have a system to keep watch and give us some preparedness.

Chelyabinsk should have been a wake up call. All we did though was turn over and hit the snooze button.

[NERVAfan]

Chelyabinsk should have been a wake up call. All we did though was turn over and hit the snooze button.

Yeah. Exactly.

And honestly I think there's too much focus on "extinction level" ones*. What worries me more is a "small" (eg Chelyabinsk or Tunguska sized) nickel-iron one which gets much deeper into the atmosphere before airbursting, so that nuke-sized burst goes off right on top of a city rather than in the upper atmosphere... which could be even worse, if it happened to ... say... Moscow or New York at a time of increased political tension (IE mistaken for a nuclear strike).

*Although long-period comets are scary: the one that's going to super close to Mars in October was only discovered at the beginning of 2014, so we could still get unlucky.

[TheExplosionist]

Those "reports" are mainly sponsored by radical vegan groups...

It's been well documented that BSE does not cause CJD. They're related but separate.

As to asteroids hitting the earth? Nothing new. Rocks coming down is commonplace, there's not a day going by that something doesn't hit somewhere.

Heh?

BSE = prion disease of cows

CJD/vCJD = prion disease of humans that ate non-organic infected beef or had an infected tissue transfusion

It takes anywhere from months to decades for CJD symptoms to develop.

[Soda Popinski]

Heh?

BSE = prion disease of cows

CJD/vCJD = prion disease of humans that ate non-organic infected beef or had an infected tissue transfusion

It takes anywhere from months to decades for CJD symptoms to develop.

There may be some confusion, as CJD use to mean only familial CJD. fCJD occurs due to a mutation that predisposes the protein in the misfolded prion state. Variant CJD is thought to occur due to the bovine prion form of this protein interacting with the normal human form, and getting a few of them to convert to the prion state. Those prion state proteins can do the same to normal protein with greater efficiency in sort of a chain reaction.

Variant CJD (bovine source) tends has a mean age of death of 28 (according to Wikipedia). So most old age dementia would not be attributed to that. If anything, it might be sporadic CJD, which has nothing to do with eating BSE cows (about 85% of CJD).

A better model might be Kuru, which occurs faster due human prions are ingested (which is a good reason to avoid cannibalism, or at least avoid eating human brains).

Edited April 24, 2014 by Soda Popinski