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CrisKross t1_iuimiur wrote

I call the last bag of Cool Ranch Doritos!!

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vester71 t1_iuin3pg wrote

I guess we now know why they did that test crashing something into a benign asteroid seeing if they could move it.

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AzulMage2020 t1_iuinbnc wrote

10th article about this . Sure hope Ron Perlman isn't busy.

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Pingaring t1_iuio9gf wrote

You and your children, will have been dead for centuries before this asteroid closes our orbit.

Also might be worth noting this "planet killer" is said to be 1km in diameter. Which with appropriate kinetic force is equivalent to about 1k Tsar Bomba detonations. Or enough potential energy to destroy the entirety of NYC up to Newburg and down into Hamilton Township. Environmental impact would be devastating but I wouldn't call this an extinction level event.

When these news articles start using phases like "Chicxulub" and "in our life time" then it's time to start opening the good wine.

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Rod_SerlingNarration t1_iuiq23o wrote

Picture if you will - an interplanetary game of hide-and-seek. A high stakes cavalcade of calamity on a collision course with destruction.

Tonight we’ll witness what happens when the sun’s beams only serve to illuminate obfuscation.

Close your eyes and count down from 100 - because the game is about to begin in…The Twilight Zone.

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900pumpchump t1_iuis63r wrote

Good things bill gates is gonna spray the sky to block out the sun, then we won’t be able to see anything so we won’t have to worry about it

−9

dbhathcock t1_iuisdpt wrote

If it is hiding, does that mean the asteroid is actually alive?

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Justme100001 t1_iuisvtu wrote

As if Halloween is not scary enough. Can't this wait untill Christmas ?

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JackWasabe t1_iuitvjq wrote

Good thing we already developed a counter measure.

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Muhala69 t1_iuiun62 wrote

Why don’t they just wait until the sun sets the get a better view? /s

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KitchenNazi t1_iuiuq69 wrote

That's why I always look at the sun with my telescope at night. No glare!

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LegitimateGift1792 t1_iuivhps wrote

Replying to oilfeather (#393,305)

LOL. Both instances show how easy it is to attach a foreign world and makes me laugh when Sci Fi shows aliens who travelled across the galaxy to get waster their time landing and taking us on head to head. They could easily sit out in the asteroid belt and push rocks at us. But that would make a very short movie.

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aecarol1 t1_iuiwon0 wrote

This is a serious issue. Not this specific asteroid in our lifetimes, but the idea that there are orbits that are mostly sunward and are hard to see asteroids in. It's a bit of a blind-spot from the vantage point of the Earth.

There was a mission planned a while back that would orbit the sun inside the orbit of Venus and look outward for Earth crossing asteroids. The idea was that being closer to the sun, most of the interesting asteroids would be well illuminated and easier to spot. I have no idea the status of this mission or if it's going to eventually fly.

When looking at the same asteroids from Earth, they are close enough to the sun that they are hard to see.

tl;dr asteroids that spend a lot of time close to the sun are hard to discover because of solar glare. Putting a probe closer to the sun looking "outward" may help find more of them.

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doge4life81 t1_iuix2c5 wrote

Well I'll be dipped in shit. Probably a hot fudge sundae, but on a Tuesday!

1

talonredwing t1_iuix7ib wrote

Note how they did the test first and THEN told everyone of the potentially lethal asteroid

−2

KerouacsGirlfriend t1_iuixkhg wrote

Why they keep teasing us with “potential” planet killers. Do it already, space. DOOOO EEEET.

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Gregoriel9 t1_iuiypx7 wrote

Replying to Pingaring (#391,157)

Either that, the asteroid is closer than we thought, or advancements in medical technology accelerate to the point of biologically immortalizing humanity within a few decades.

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mtsai t1_iuiz86u wrote

let me guess its going to pass us within a few million miles. but somehow thats close enough to worry about it. not even going to bother reading this.

−4

Picnut t1_iuj0eaq wrote

Well thank goodness, now we don’t have to worry about the climate

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Your_Daddy_ t1_iuj3bgs wrote

Aw shit - Planet 9!

My brother isn't crazy after all!

−1

Pingaring t1_iuj5ptq wrote

Replying to katharsisdesign (#395,302)

While that sentiment is healthy to have, it wouldn't apply to this scenario. The current stage logistics make it virtually impossible to carry out such a mission. Especially one that would be measured in centuries, forcing future scientists to have to interface with technology 150+ years outdated, obsolete, and defunct.

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DENelson83 t1_iuj7f8a wrote

It might be easier to spot such asteroids with an IR telescope at Sun-Earth L₄.

1

GooglyIce t1_iuja8xn wrote

If I’m getting this right we would be wise to send a survey probe up to the one that’s potentially harmful and if we can’t seem to detect if there’s any minerals or elements on it worth harvesting and if matching its’ orbit is even an option, the next thing to do would be to either mine it or collide with it to push it off course. At the very least before Kessler syndrome kicks in and locking ourselves out of near-earth orbital access. Until then, another wake up call to remind us that we need to be mindful of what’s out there.

−2

plaidravioli t1_iujec6r wrote

We’re all gonna die!!! Eventually.

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Ok-Worker5125 t1_iuji28z wrote

Now we are about to be killed by a asteroid that read miyamoto musashis book… great

0

[deleted] t1_iujices wrote

I was told by nasa last year they scanned and we were good for like 200 years. I knew they were being egotistical.

−2

katharsisdesign t1_iujk4co wrote

Replying to Pingaring (#396,789)

Didn't we essentially just shoot a rocket called dart at an asteroid to hit it off the trajectory. It doesn't seem to fall inside your realm of logic of there's no point. You have no scope on what things have a point or how much money and time we waste on things that have less of a point. There can be non human life on earth that we save. Or it could be cavemen again. Who knows. But it's happened before and will again. The dinosaurs got rinsed, and every religion mentions a flood that erased civilizations clean out of history. Unless something else hits it off its original trajectory after we've launched at it and has no navigation targeting system but still. It seems like a better sentiment to make any form of effort for my potential great great great great great great grandkids or a new breed of dinosaur idfk

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Alan_Smithee_ t1_iujli8a wrote

We are blind to virtually all of the asteroids coming from the sun’s direction, which is why we need a space-based detection network.

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Alan_Smithee_ t1_iujlv41 wrote

Replying to Pingaring (#396,789)

What are you talking about??

DART was proof of concept. There wouldn’t be any old technology employed. Given enough advance warning, new interception devices would be built.

Having said that, it wouldn’t be a bad thing to have designs and some advance hardware at the ready.

3

Neverending_Rain t1_iujobfl wrote

Replying to katharsisdesign (#395,302)

There is no current sign of it being on a collision course with Earth. In a few centuries there's a chance it'll be a risk to the planet. It's quite possible that it won't be a threat in the future at all. Trying to change its trajectory now would be pointless. We're already working on ways of diverting asteroids such as the DART mission. There's no need to do anything other than continue that research.

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Abalone_Gonads t1_iujpile wrote

I love that we’re hearing about this from a gadget blog, instead of The Space Force and NASA. It’s like reading about the Ukraine war in Better Homes and Gardens or Southern Living.

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Jaggoff81 t1_iuju16r wrote

So that’s why they hit the other asteroid with that satellite…. Practice… It’s all coming together

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theoneronin t1_iujunfh wrote

“The sun was in my eye, Coach.”

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winkbean t1_iuk3km3 wrote

These scientists have been looking at the stars and space for how long now, thousands of years all to together. Just seeing this now. Let me guess its shaped like a jack-o-lantern.

−3

Scary_Princess t1_iuk4kqd wrote

Replying to DaMuller (#401,200)

I think you can get a lot more than 20 years of prime particularly if you take good care of yourself. Even if you don’t take good care of yourself genetics can be kind.

I work in healthcare I see plenty of 50 year olds that there prime ended somewhere in there late 30’s early 40’s I also see plenty of 60/70 year olds who can be argued to still be in there prime. I know a 60 year old surgeon who still runs ultra marathons (50+ km).

Still I understand your sentiment death isn’t what scares me either but the feebleness and pain of old age.

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