Near miss asteroid...a very near miss.
 

I just learned that there was an asteroid that just passed by Earth. It was only 40,000 miles up when it passed. It was a pretty big one and would have landed in the Pacific Ocean as I can remember. If it would have made an impact with us, it would have been the size of a nuclear blast. The near miss is the good news. The bad news is it's coming back. Hopefully it will miss, otherwise we'll have to take action.

why not just blow it up?

As I can remember, I think they said it was 1/4 the size of the moon. With an asteroid that large, it would be better to somehow move it so it takes a different trajectory. If we were to blow it up, then it would break into smaller pieces. If it's broken into smaller pieces then instead of a huge asteroid making an impact with the earth, many asteroids would make an impact with us. I mean, it wouldn't be as devastating, but it would still be a major catastrophe. It's also important to determine what the asteroid is made up of. They are not all made of rock. Some of them are rock, some of them are a mixture of rock and metal, and there are some that are almost entirely metal. There's a lot of "planning ahead" and work that goes into stopping a huge asteroid from making an impact with us.

You didn't see Armageddon did ya? :D

Bruce will die if we try that.

LOL.

I'm leavin' on a jet plane...

Ann Curry reported this on the Today show this morning. She said the asteroid explains why her hair was flat today. :D

And, though John Denver's original will always be the best, I thought Chantal Kreviazuk did a fabulous job with Leaving on a Jet Plane.

Duh! Anyone who saw Armageddon knows that it's made up of iron ferrite! Maybe if we drill deep enough into it (drill, baby, drill!), we can break up the asteroid into small enough pieces that miss us by juuuuust enough. And it'll create jobs! And win back all the goodwill we've lost in the past decade!

"The United States government just asked us to save the world. Anyone wanna say no?" - Harry Stamper

Great. Something else to worry about. :rolleyes:

We may need a bailout plan to fund blowing up the asteriod unless we can make this an international effort and divert the world's attention away from the drying up of natural resources.

Isn't saving the world an international effort?

Oh, and if I have to do it, I don't want to pay taxes again...ever.

Was that comment even necessary? Seriously.

cheerfulgreek, have you seen Armageddon? Most of the posts here are in reference to that movie. Peppy's comment wasn't unnecessary - it was funny, and it was all related to the movie.

Sometimes I think you look for anything you could construe as mean. I don't get it.

At least we wouldn't have to worry about the economy any more! I'm so tired of thinking about it!!

Yes, I did see the movie, but I wasn't referring to it. RU OX Alum asked me a question, so responded to his question. Maybe I should have responded to him by saying, "Duh, moron, didn't you see Armageddon? Obviously, it would break into smaller pieces if we blow it up, still causing a major problem.:rolleyes:" I don't think he would see that as a condescending response. Do you?

Instead I just answered his question.

To me, saying "Duh" to my post was clearly condescending and unnecessary.

Sydney, if that's what you think, then that's fine.

You're kidding, right?