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Off Topic Forums => Off Topic Forum => Topic started by: J.R.E. on February 15, 2013, 12:33:18 pm

Title: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: J.R.E. on February 15, 2013, 12:33:18 pm


Asteroid expected to pass close to Earth Friday @ 2:24 EST

http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/bn9/2013/2/15/asteroid_expected_to.html



Call it "close encounters of the cosmic kind."

On Friday - the same day a meteor exploded over Russia's Ural Mountains, injuring nearly 1,000 people - an asteroid is expected to pass pretty close to the Earth.

The asteroid, which is known as 2012 DA14, is thought to be about 150 feet long, or half the size of a football field.  Astronomers say it could come as close as 17,100 miles from the surface of the Earth.

That's closer than the weather and communication satellites that ring our planet at about 22,300 miles above the Earth, and much closer than the moon, which is about a quarter-million miles away.

The encounter will be the closest one NASA has ever seen for something this big.
NASA Scientists: Keep calm, carry on

But scientists with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory say people have nothing to worry about, as it is impossible for the asteroid to hit the planet.

"There is no chance that the asteroid might be on a collision course with Earth," the agency wrote on its site.

    Read More: NASA's Earth Flyby Reality Check

Scientists say there are millions of asteroids in the solar system, with the majority of them hanging out in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

It's not uncommon for an asteroid to actually enter the Earth's atmosphere - in fact, scientists say about 100 tons of rocks come into the Earth's atmosphere every day.  However, most of them are small and they explode in the upper levels of the atmosphere, their remnants vaporizing before they ever reach the other.

Some of those asteroids are, like 2012 DA14, categorized as "Near-Earth asteroids," which are asteroids with orbits that pass near that of Earth.  As of Feb. 2, 2013, NASA scientists had estimated that there were about 9,604 such asteroids.

    Read More: NASA's Near Earth Object Discovery statistics

More than 1,300 of those have been categorized as "potentially hazardous," which means they may someday come close to or hit Earth.  NASA monitors these asteroids, and right now they say there are no eminent threats.
Asteroid events in recent history

Such an event has happened before, in 1908, when an asteroid entered the atmosphere over Tunguska, Russia, and exploded, but again, scientists stress that impact is not possible for this asteroid.

Scientists say that an event like the asteroid that exploded over Tunguska, which is estimated to have been between 45-70 meters, is likely to happen once every couple thousand years.

Scientists at NASA's Near-Earth Object program at California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory estimate that an object of this size makes a close approach like this every 40 years. The likelihood of a strike is every 1,200 years.

Several other asteroid "events" have been reported in recent years, including a large fireball that was observed over the skies in Indonesia in October 2009 and a collision that occurred over the Mediterranean Sea in June 2002.  In addition, scientists calculated that a small asteroid would hit the Earth over the Sudan in October 2008.

The asteroid hit as predicted, making it the first time scientists had been able to accurately predict an asteroid impact.

The asteroid, which is expected to pass at 2:24 p.m. EST, but you'll need a telescope to be able to see it, as it is too small to be seen by the naked human eye.

Sadly for space-loving Floridians, you'll also have to be in Eastern Europe, Asia or Australia for the best possible view.



And a related story :


http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2013/2/15/400_injured_by_blasts_as_meteor_falls_in_Russia.html



Meteor explodes over Russia, nearly 1,000 injured :

MOSCOW (AP) --

A meteor streaked across the sky and exploded over Russia's Ural Mountains with the power of an atomic bomb Friday, its sonic blasts shattering countless windows and injuring nearly 1,000 people.

The spectacle deeply frightened many Russians, with some elderly women declaring that the world was coming to an end.

   
The meteor - estimated to be about 10 tons - entered the Earth's atmosphere at a hypersonic speed of at least 54,000 kph (33,000 mph) and shattered into pieces about 30-50 kilometers (18-32 miles) above the ground, the Russian Academy of Sciences said in a statement.

Amateur video broadcast on Russian television showed an object speeding across the sky about 9:20 a.m. local time, just after sunrise, leaving a thick white contrail and an intense flash.

The meteor released several kilotons of energy above the Chelyabinsk region, the science academy said. The shock wave blew in an estimated 100,000 square meters (more than 1 million square feet) of glass, according to city officials.

"There was panic. People had no idea what was happening," said Sergey Hametov, a resident of Chelyabinsk, a city of 1 million about 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) east of Moscow.

"We saw a big burst of light, then went outside to see what it was and we heard a really loud, thundering sound," he told The Associated Press by telephone.

The meteor hit less than a day before Asteroid 2012DA14 is to make the closest recorded pass of an asteroid to the Earth - about 17,150 miles (28,000 kilometers). But the European Space Agency in a tweet said its experts had determined there was no connection - just cosmic coincidence.

The Interior Ministry said 985 people sought medical care after the shock wave and 44 of them were hospitalized. Most of the injuries were caused by flying glass, it said.

There was no immediate word on any deaths or anyone struck by space fragments.

Meteors typically cause sizeable sonic booms when they enter the atmosphere because they are traveling so much faster than the speed of sound. Injuries on the scale reported Friday, however, are extraordinarily rare.

"I went to see what that flash in the sky was about," recalled resident Marat Lobkovsky. "And then the window glass shattered, bouncing back on me. My beard was cut open, but not deep. They patched me up, it's OK now."

Another resident, Valya Kazakov, said some elderly women in his neighborhood started crying out that the world was ending.

Lessons had just started at Chelyabinsk schools when the meteor exploded, and officials said 204 schoolchildren were among those injured.

Yekaterina Melikhova, a high school student whose nose was bloody and whose upper lip was covered with a bandage, said she was in her geography class when they saw a bright light outside.

"After the flash, nothing happened for about three minutes. Then we rushed outdoors. I was not alone, I was there with Katya. The door was made of glass, a shock wave made it hit us," she said.

Russian television ran footage of athletes at a city sports arena who were showered by shards of glass from huge windows. Some of them were still bleeding.

City officials said 3,000 buildings in the city were damaged by the shock wave, including a zinc factory where part of the roof collapsed.

The vast implosion of glass windows exposed many residents to the bitter cold as temperatures in the city hovered around minus 9 Celsius (15.8 Fahrenheit).

The regional governor immediately urged any workers who can pane windows to rush to the area to help out.

Some fragments fell in a reservoir outside the town of Chebarkul, the regional governor's office said, according to the ITAR-Tass.

A six-meter-wide (20-foot-wide) crater was found in the same area, which could come from space fragments striking the ground, the news agency cited military spokesman Yaroslavl Roshchupkin as saying.

Small pieces of space debris - usually parts of comets or asteroids - that are on a collision course with the Earth are called meteoroids. They become meteors when they enter the Earth's atmosphere. Most meteors burn up in the atmosphere, but if they survive the frictional heating and strike the surface of the Earth they are called meteorites.

The site of Friday's spectacular show is about 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles) west of Tunguska, which 1908 was the site of the largest recorded explosion of a space object plunging to Earth. That blast, attributed to a comet or asteroid fragment, is generally estimated to have been about 10 megatons; it leveled some 80 million trees.

Scientists believe that a far larger meteorite strike on what today is Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula may have been responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs about 66 million years ago. According to that theory, the impact would have thrown up vast amounts of dust that blanketed the sky for decades and altered the climate on Earth

The panic and confusion that followed Friday's meteorite crash quickly gave way to Chelyabinsk residents' entrepreneurial instincts. Several people smashed in the windows of their houses in the hopes of pretending they were broken by the meteorite and receiving compensation, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Other quickly took to the Internet and put what they said were meteorite fragments up for sale.

The Russian-language hashtags for the meteorite shot into Twitter's top trends, and the country's lively blogosphere quickly reacted with black humor.

One of the most popular jokes was that the meteorite was supposed to fall Dec. 21 last year - when many believed the Mayan calendar predicted the end of the world - but was delivered late by Russia's notoriously inefficient postal service.

Others joked that the meteorite was par for the course for Chelyabinsk, an industrial town long held to be one of the world's most polluted areas. The area around Chelyabinsk is also home to nuclear and chemical weapons disposal facilities.

Vladimir Chuprov of Greenpeace Russia noted that the area where the meteor exploded was 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Mayak nuclear storage and disposal facility, which holds dozens of tons of weapons-grade plutonium. He said the Russian government has underestimated potential risks of the region.

A chemical weapons disposal facility at Shchuchye in the Chelyabinsk region contains some 6,000 tons (5,460 metric tons) of nerve agent including sarin and VX, accounting for about 14 percent of the chemical weapons that Russia is committed to destroy.

The dramatic events prompted an array of reactions from prominent Russians.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, speaking at an economic forum in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, said the meteor could be a symbol for the forum, showing that "not only the economy is vulnerable, but the whole planet."

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a nationalist leader noted for vehement statements, said "It's not meteors falling. It's the test of a new weapon by the Americans," the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said the incident showed the need for leading world powers to develop a system to intercept objects falling from space.

"At the moment, neither we nor the Americans have such technologies" to shoot down meteors or asteroids, he said, according to the Interfax news agency.



 8)
Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: Ann on February 15, 2013, 12:35:47 pm
When I saw this threads title, I thought maybe it was going to be raining men.
Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: J.R.E. on February 15, 2013, 12:39:38 pm
When I saw this threads title, I thought maybe it was going to be raining men.

  ;D  We should be so lucky !


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYSupJ5r2zo
Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: OneTampa on February 15, 2013, 03:34:23 pm
Посмотрите Pa! Мне бы в небо!

 ::)  ::)  ::)
Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: BT65 on February 15, 2013, 03:39:42 pm
One of my co-worker's boyfriend is an "Armageddon, earth ending!" type guy.  But luckily not a survivalist type.  I find this kind of thing interesting yet boring at the same time.  Interesting to think about but I definitely could not do this kind of work.
Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: tednlou2 on February 15, 2013, 05:11:23 pm
Isn't there one out there that will make two passes between now and like 2027?  I thought I read the pass in 2027 could hit, or be extremely close. 

Will we have to send Justin Bieber to blow it up?  Bruce Willis will be too old. 
Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: Ann on February 15, 2013, 07:58:27 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYSupJ5r2zo

Oh man I used to always get absolutely creamed (and I'm not talking about in my jeans) when I played that game way back when. Unpleasant memories and loads of wasted quarters! ;D
Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: Miss Philicia on February 15, 2013, 08:07:32 pm
Oh man I used to always get absolutely creamed (and I'm not talking about in my jeans)

How 'bout in your gaping butthole, Annie Creampie?
Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: Ann on February 15, 2013, 08:13:17 pm
How 'bout in your gaping butthole, Annie Creampie?

You're obviously confusing me with your good self, my dear Miz Phellatio. My butthole does NOT gape. So sorry to disappoint.
Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: Jeff G on February 15, 2013, 08:41:44 pm
Miss P stop talking about Ann's butthole ... by the way , were you talking about the front butt or back butt ?
Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: Ann on February 15, 2013, 08:44:39 pm
Miss P stop talking about Ann's butthole ... by the way , were you talking about the front butt or back butt ?

Don't talk about my vajayjay* like that - I only have one butthole! >:(

*She doesn't gape either! And don't you forget it!!!!!
Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: Miss Philicia on February 15, 2013, 08:47:29 pm
Miss P stop talking about Ann's butthole ... by the way , were you talking about the front butt or back butt ?

Which ever one it is that's wrecked by all of the anal warts.
Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: Jeff G on February 15, 2013, 08:51:32 pm
Don't talk about my vajayjay* like that - I only have one butthole! >:(

*She doesn't gape either! And don't you forget it!!!!!

I have the visual now and I promise I will NEVER forget !
Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: Jeff G on February 15, 2013, 08:55:55 pm
Well , this is what you get with an Ass-Teriod thread .
Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: Ann on February 15, 2013, 08:58:58 pm
Which ever one it is that's wrecked by all of the anal warts.

Again, you seem to be confusing me with yourself. The only wart I've ever had was a plantar wart on my toe next to my big toe. Stop admiring your butt in the mirror and maybe you'd be less confused. :o
Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: tednlou2 on February 16, 2013, 04:40:08 am
San Francisco had a fireball tonight, although not as spectacular.  It is a tad odd that these happened on the day that a decent size asteroid was passing Earth.  Coincidence I guess.

Now, this video was having issues on my IPad.  Video went out to just audio. 

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/video/#!/on-air/as-seen-on/Fireball-in-the-Sky-Catches-Bay-Area-s-Attention/191511681
Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: OneTampa on February 16, 2013, 07:26:05 pm
I wonder if our Earth's Lease has expired and the Outerspace Landlord..... (sorry, I had to adjust my tinfoil hat).... is trying to get rid of us? You know like when the lights used to flicker at an event signaling it's time to go?

 ::) :P :o 8) ???




Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: J.R.E. on February 17, 2013, 05:31:51 pm
You know like when the lights used to flicker at an event signaling it's time to go?

 ::) :P :o 8) ???


Or when the bartenders used to yell  " It's hotel,  motel time".   I wonder if they still do that !  :P


Ray
Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: denb45 on February 17, 2013, 06:21:36 pm

Or when the bartenders used to yell  " It's hotel,  motel time".   I wonder if they still do that !  :P


Ray


I don't recall that one Ray, however I do remember bar-tenders saying back in the day

"suck em up, guzzle em up it's close to 2AM,  we have 12 packs to go @ the bar"

HUGS

DEN  :D
Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: randym431 on February 17, 2013, 09:35:57 pm
What scared the heck out of me, and something I never knew before, was that a space rock DOES NOT necessarily have to direct-hit the earths terra-firma to do great damage. As with the Soviet's close call, the rock only needed to enter the lower atmosphere to create a nuclear-type explosion radiating downward and thus creating real damage. In other words, if that other huge astroid that missed entering the atmosphere on the same day, would have entered the atmosphere, we could have seen the end of the dinosaurs. Er, I mean, a shit load of people turned into mush.
So now... a brand new paranoidal concept to lose sleep over.
WOuld that double the chances of catastrophic damage from space rocks?
Great... just great...
Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: Ann on February 18, 2013, 05:58:26 am

In other words, if that other huge astroid that missed entering the atmosphere on the same day, would have entered the atmosphere, we could have seen the end of the dinosaurs. Er, I mean, a shit load of people turned into mush.
So now... a brand new paranoidal concept to lose sleep over.
WOuld that double the chances of catastrophic damage from space rocks?
Great... just great...

Eh, look on the bright side. We'd finally have a cure for aids.
Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: red_Dragon888 on February 18, 2013, 11:39:12 am
There's Gold in them their rocks.

"Meteorite rush" begins as Russian scientists find fragments
http://news.yahoo.com/meteorite-rush-begins-russian-scientists-fragments-111415119.html

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A meteor that exploded over Russia's Ural mountains and sent fireballs blazing to earth has set off a rush to find fragments of the space rock which hunters hope could fetch thousands of dollars a piece.
Friday's blast and ensuing shockwave shattered windows, injured almost 1,200 people and caused about $33 million worth of damage, said local authorities.
It also started a "meteorite rush" around the industrial city of Chelyabinsk, 1,500 km (950 miles) east of Moscow, where groups of people have started combing through the snow and ice.

One amateur space enthusiast estimated chunks could be worth anything up to 66,000 roubles ($2,200) per gram - more than 40 times the current cost of gold.
"The price is hard to say yet ... The fewer meteorites that are recovered, the higher their price," said Dmitry Kachkalin, a member of the Russian Society of Amateur Meteorite Lovers. Meteorites are parts of a meteor that have fallen to earth.

Scientists at the Urals Federal University were the first to announce a significant find - 53 small, stony, black objects around Lake Chebarkul, near Chelyabinsk, which tests confirmed were small meteorites.

The fragments were only 0.5 to 1 cm (0.2 to 0.4 inches) across but the scientists said larger pieces may have crashed into the lake, where a crater in the ice about eight meters (26 feet) wide opened up after Friday's explosion.
"We just completed tests and confirm that the pieces of matter found by our experts around Lake Chebarkul are really meteorites," said Viktor Grokhovsky, a scientist with the Urals Federal University and the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"These are classified as ordinary chondrites, or stony meteorites, with an iron content of about 10 percent," he told RIA news agency.

He did not say whether the fragments had told his team anything about the origins of the meteor, which the U.S. space agency NASA estimated was 55 feet across before entering Earth's atmosphere and weighed about 10,000 tons.
The main fireball streaked across the sky at a speed of about 30 km (19 miles) per second, according to Russian space agency Roscosmos, before crashing into the snowy wastes...
Title: Re: Don't forget to put on your hard hats
Post by: tednlou2 on February 18, 2013, 11:55:43 pm
I always think how everything on Earth may be alien.  It is quite likely that life came here, piggybacking on a meteor/asteroid.  It makes me think how flowers spread their seeds out in the wind, or from animals eating the seeds and dropping them with a lump of fertilizer.  Mother Nature spreads life anyway she can. 

Btw, I have not done any drugs tonight.