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Bubbagumpredditor t1_j7kddf9 wrote

We REALLY need to spend more time and money mapping these things before we get dinosaured

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StayYou61 t1_j7kfv5j wrote

My understanding is that we are trying to, but with the vastness of space and inability to look around the sun, it is a very difficult process.

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VillhelmSupreme t1_j7l8qtu wrote

Why don’t we set up a relay system behind the sun then? /s

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Cesum-Pec t1_j7l9ztg wrote

It was all explained in a 70s documentary about the first time we sent astronauts to the far side of the sun. There resides an alt earth where our doppelgangers read English from right to left. Everything is backwards there. So I guess any rogue asteroids over there will be absorbed by alt earth and we'll be safe here. It's sciency stuff. Might be too sophisticated for you to understand.

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Novabella t1_j7lf4g9 wrote

I need context for this bit

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Cesum-Pec t1_j7lg2wq wrote

In the 70s, one of the more popular TV shows was the TV movie of the week. You never knew what you'd get and they weren't big budget special effects masterpieces. It was a pretty bad story in retrospect, but as a little kid, I was fascinated by the thought that there could be stuff on the other side of the sun that we've never seen.

On alt earth, there is someone who looks just like you, lives your identical life, but slightly backwards. When our hero astronaut got stranded on akt earth, his twin from alt-earth was stranded here. The drama was the astronaut coming to the realization that he was not home and that wasn't his wife

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Hairy_Al t1_j7lov2n wrote

Doppelganger

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppelg%C3%A4nger_(1969_film)

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Cesum-Pec t1_j7lv6eq wrote

Well done. My 50 yo memories aren't perfect but wasn't that far off

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roominating237 t1_j7mrxju wrote

Yup. I remember seeing this on TV when I was a youngin'. Astronaut thought his friend was driving on the wrong side of the road, for starters.

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EvilWayne t1_j7lkfcg wrote

I think this is The Stranger. I vaguely recall it, but the wikipedia entry doesn't exactly line up.

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Hairy_Al t1_j7lok7a wrote

Definitely not that. I remember the film we're talking about. Little things like the light switch being on the opposite side of the door as silly stuff like that. Can't remember much else about it

Edit:found it

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppelg%C3%A4nger_(1969_film)

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EvilWayne t1_j7m9m2j wrote

Wow, I never heard of this film and I'm a big fan of horrible and cheesy scifi.

I must now see this movie.

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bigpeechtea t1_j7mytb6 wrote

Lmao and here I am thinking they’re talking about that other movie Another Earth that came out in 2011 to… not much of a reaction lol

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ExplosiveMachine t1_j7mzkqj wrote

> The drama was the astronaut coming to the realization that he was not home and that wasn't his wife

later summarised in a song by Talking Heads.

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JohnDavidsBooty t1_j7o2wee wrote

I feel like this is basically a scifi version of The Irony of Fate

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nzed35 t1_j7le730 wrote

We just look at night when the sun is asleep

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Bubbagumpredditor t1_j7kgu48 wrote

Yeah, but we're doing a half assed job of it cause it costs money and there is no immediate bprofit

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Crontab t1_j7lt1pz wrote

Telescope time is Uber precious, and I'm guessing it's easier for you proposal to get approved if you're not essentially shooting in the dark with your time.

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danielravennest t1_j7mbh4v wrote

We use survey telescopes to look for asteroids. Typically they have been much smaller than the research telescopes. This is about to change with the Rubin Observatory which has an 8 meter mirror, putting into the research size range.

This telescope has a 3200 megapixel camera, and a wide field of view. It will survey the sky frequently, looking for anything that changes (moving asteroids and comets, variable stars, planetary transits, etc.)

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SheeEttin t1_j7mz9id wrote

Also, there's the problem of asteroids not emitting anything, making them very hard to see against empty space. They have to reflect something else to be visible to us.

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runnbl3 t1_j7mg66c wrote

Wouldn’t it be much easier to build a death laser?

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MayOverexplain t1_j7ky284 wrote

I mean, this size is more on the same scale as the meteor from the Tunguska event and would “just” blast a city in the worst of luck, not an extinction event. I do get what you’re saying though.

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WalkingTurtleMan t1_j7mrww3 wrote

This object was about 200 meters wide. The Dino-killer (does it have an official name?) was about 6 miles across and roughly the same size as Mount Everest.

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Bubbagumpredditor t1_j7pa2xc wrote

I mean, yeah. But this things big brother is out there somewhere, I'd like to know where it is before it lands in the Pacific at a berjillion miles an hour.

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Toebean_Farmer t1_j7m5e36 wrote

Then we’ll start cataloging the compositions of each, and soon we’ll have a whole database full asteroids just ready for the mining!

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9Athelas7 t1_j7mh6lz wrote

Iam pretty sure that there is far greater probability that we will destroy ourselves

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[deleted] t1_j7n5faq wrote

The Chicxulub impactor was about 6 miles across (10k). This rock is nowhere near that size and is located in the asteroid belt rather than the outer reaches of the solar system where, to my understanding, impactors generally originate.

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T351A t1_j7mmqas wrote

The good news is the larger they are the easier they are to spot. The bad news is, it doesn't take much and the larger ones would be hard to stop

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rennbrig t1_j7p738o wrote

I will now be adding “get dinosaured” into my vocabulary.

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neuromorph t1_j7n27sh wrote

And then what? We can barely launch people on space and you want to move an asteroid?

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phoenixmusicman t1_j7rvgh8 wrote

Considering that it's 100 million km away I think we're fine

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Bubbagumpredditor t1_j7s3mry wrote

Yes, because there is only one small asteroid in the solar system, no need to look for others.

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slickhedstrong t1_j7l9t1e wrote

don't worry about it. dinosaurs only went extinct a million years after their rock hit.

we don't even have 10% of that left

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[deleted] t1_j7n76q7 wrote

[deleted]

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slickhedstrong t1_j7nd6od wrote

we only have like 250 years of coal left. we are hitting critical mass. we're not solving existential problems.

if we're here for 20,000 times long than we've been keeping historical record, that would be a miracle.

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Shervi t1_j7mzi7g wrote

Why don‘t you educate yourself before you share your ignorant opinion?

First: 30% of earth is land and only 45% is inhabited. So not even 15% Second: Not every asteroid hits earth Third: We have the moon Fourth: There is something called atmosphere Fifth: How are you so entitled ? Those are the top scientists on earth and see get most of them. You are just scared blindly. You REALLY need it. Then go do it. 6: What would it even change or matter ?

Please read books people. Sorry that I snapped but this shit is making me mad.

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WaitForItTheMongols t1_j7n1g5l wrote

Sorry friend but you seem to be misinformed. Please reduce your level of vitriol, especially given that your facts aren't quite right.

The extinction caused by an impacting meteorite is not related to directly getting hit. The biggest issue is that it kicks up so much dust that the atmosphere can lose its transparency. When less sunlight reaches the ground, plants can't thrive, and then we have a food crisis. Doesn't matter where it hits, everyone is affected. If it hits ocean, then we have tsunamis that destroy multiple coastal cities all at once.

Of course not every asteroid hits earth, but we don't know which ones are headed our way (or, more accurately, which ones have orbits which, factoring in uncertainty, may result in a conjunction with the orbit of the earth) until we find them and track them.

Having the moon is nice, but the moon isn't a magic vacuum cleaner. Asteroids have every capability of coming down. One killed the dinosaurs, one caused the Tunguska event, and one was in Chelyabinsk just a decade ago. Clearly the moon isn't sufficient to protect us. It orbits around so it only has an effect on one side of earth at a time.

The atmosphere is a joke compared to an extinction-level meteorite. The velocity is high enough to not be sufficiently slowed to a safe level, and the object's mass is sufficient to maintain integrity despite aerothermal ablation.

How would we know if we saw most of the asteroids? We don't know which ones we're missing because... we're missing them. And what makes you think that the top scientists are choosing asteroid-hunting as their science of choice? Why aren't the top scientists biologists, geologists, chemists, or anything else? How many organizations can you name which have a chief purpose of asteroid hunting?

What would it change? If we can detect asteroids early enough, then we can do something about them and prevent them from impacting us. That was the whole point of the DART mission last year. We took an asteroid that wasn't coming toward us, and deflected it into a different path, which was still not coming toward us. But it proved that we have the active, current, present technology to deflect an asteroid, presuming we can send a spacecraft to it soon enough. But we can only do that if we detect the asteroid and have enough time to deflect it onto a new course.

Please, chill a bit. This type of hostility won't win anyone over to your side. Have a nice day.

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Bubbagumpredditor t1_j7p9pb3 wrote

>Why don‘t you educate yourself before you share your ignorant opinion? >

Hahaha. Let's break down your comment.

>First: 30% of earth is land and only 45% is inhabited. So not even 15%

So you think an asteroid impact is only bad if it lands on a city? More importantly you think it would only be bad if it hit land?

>Second: Not every asteroid hits earth

Really? I thought every single one hit us ever time. /S

>Third: We have the moon

Yes. Yes we do. And I have a Prius.

>Fourth: There is something called atmosphere

100 miles of air would stop an asteroid? Whuhu we're all saved! But how do you explain the dinosaurs and that iridium layer? Oh and all those giant craters around?

>Fifth: How are you so entitled ? Those are the top scientists on earth and see get most of them. You are just scared blindly. You REALLY need it. Then go do it.

I am assuming English is not your first language? Either way this is kinda incoherent.

>6: What would it even change or matter ?

See, this is an actual valid point. > >Please read books people.

Yeah. WE'RE the ones who need to educate ourselves, not you. Sure thing sparky.

>Sorry that I snapped but this shit is making me mad.

You're ranting because I think we don't spend enough resources tracking potentially human extinction causing objects? Is that you Dr. Moriarty?

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