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- angusm, on 11/10/2009, -2/+53Alien #1: "Shplonghfgl! Did you see that?"
Alien #2: "See that? Of course I fricking saw it! We nearly hit that big-ass planet broad-on! What I want to know is how come _you_ didn't see it?"
Alien #1: "Me? I'm driving this thing. I don't have time to keep an eye out for every piddly little terrestrial world. That's supposed to be your job."
Alien #2: "Oh, and just because it's less than ten thousand miles in diameter, it's OK that you somehow failed to spot it until we damn nearly piled into it? You want me to make you a bumper sticker that reads 'I brake for gas giants'?"
Alien #1: "Listen, I don't know where it came from. I just looked up, and there it was."
Alien #2: "Where it came from? It's been orbiting in the same place for billions of years. It's on all the fricking maps. What's your problem, haven't you ever driven in a solar system before?"
Alien #1: "OK, smart guy. What about the time you nearly hit that comet nucleus? I mean, hitting something a hundred yards across in the middle of empty space. That takes some special skill."
Alien #2: "Not even slightly similar. I had right of way. Those comet jockeys knew that, they were just being dicks about it because they're cryogenic. 'Oooh, we're made of frozen nitrogen, nothing bothers us.' Well, I'd like to see their faces when they make a close pass round the Sun and start evaporating. We'll see who's laughing then."
Alien #1: "Yeah, well, whatever ..."
Alien #2: "LOOK OUT!!!!!!"
Alien #1: "Whoa! Who put that moon there?"
Alien #2: "Oh, for stars' sake. Just pull over and let me drive." - shutaro, on 11/10/2009, -2/+45Relax... It's not 2012, yet.
- mikeinto, on 11/10/2009, -0/+40It's the Bugs are trying to start a war with a surprise attack on Buenos Aires again.
- Smashery, on 11/10/2009, -0/+36I find it phenomenal that they can spot a 7-metre rock hundreds of thousands of kilometres away, and calculate its trajectory. That's pretty darn impressive!
- FitteMas, on 11/10/2009, -4/+28"how big is this thing"
"our best estimate is 1112321..."
- its the size of texas sir.
"and we didnt see this ting comming?"
"our asteroid collision budget is a million bucks which allows us to track 1 percent of the sky, and sorry mr president but its a big ass sky."
- is this thing going to hit us?
"we are working on that right now"
-what kind of damage?
damage? total sir. its what we call a global killer. it doesnt matter where it hits, nothing will survive not even bacteria. - Lasereth, on 11/10/2009, -0/+17I like how they say it's the size of Texas, and then when they're landing on it in space, it's maybe a mile across.
- pilgrim3970, on 11/10/2009, -1/+18and yet Waldo, Carmen San Diego, and Osama Bin Laden are still on the loose.
- Balath, on 11/10/2009, -0/+13You, sir, have a lot of time on your hands. I'm not saying it's too much time, because I enjoyed reading that, but it's definitely a lot of time.
- indyGuy, on 11/10/2009, -1/+10Relax... it was only 7 meters
- Elohir, on 11/10/2009, -0/+9"A previously undiscovered asteroid came within 14,000 km of Earth last week"
xo
"and astronomers noticed it only 15 hours before closest approach."
X O
"On Nov. 6 at around 16:30 EST a 7 meter asteroid..."
: ) Everything turned out better than expected. - Quisquis, on 11/10/2009, -0/+8A one mile long asteroid the same distance away from earth as the moon will look to be about 1/4 the size of mars when it's farthest away from us...
It's like looking for a golf ball 5 and a half miles away... that's how far away it would have to be to have the same apparent diameter.
By the time it appeared this large to us, we would be somewhere around a day away from being hit.
note also that these things are moving. So imagine you're on a hill, and somewhere around you (at a radius of 5.5 mi), someone hit a golf ball. Now find it (and of course imagine it doesn't stop moving)... - Leonheart515, on 11/10/2009, -0/+8See?! Aerosmith talks of quitting and now we have no one to protect us....
- skipvt, on 11/10/2009, -0/+7And you believe that, good for you.
- BrandonJM, on 11/10/2009, -0/+7Sleep tight!
- askantik, on 11/10/2009, -1/+6Would a 7 meter asteroid really be a big deal? I mean, if it landed in the middle of NYC then yes, but I'd also assume it'd get whittled down a little on the way in, right?
- Quisquis, on 11/10/2009, -2/+7calculating the trajectory's the easy part. it's finding the damn things that are hard.
- DeskFlyer, on 11/10/2009, -0/+5Not if it's on a hyperbolic trajectory.
- ThantiK, on 11/10/2009, -3/+7Relax, an independent group found out that the 2012 calculation was a flaw anyhow and the real date according to Mayan calendar is closer to 2202
- pilgrim3970, on 11/10/2009, -0/+4and angusm for the win...
- jordanmoore, on 11/10/2009, -0/+4... touché DeskFlyer...
- Cepster, on 11/10/2009, -0/+3"Find the damn things that are hard". Day one of sex ed in an all girl's school.
- FitteMas, on 11/10/2009, -0/+3We will have a great big canopy. Solar winds, will, be caught, by the Mylar sails.
- Platina, on 11/10/2009, -0/+3dugg for Waldo
- hydroplane, on 11/10/2009, -0/+3Alert all commands. Calculate every possible destination along their last known trajectory.
- neomatrix724, on 11/10/2009, -0/+3Their targetted landing area was only a mile across...the area's around it were nearly impossible to drill yet Bruce Willis was there...so it happened.
- Treshnell, on 11/10/2009, -0/+3The fact of the matter is, there's so much "space" in space that it's improbably difficult to spot every object that's even relatively nearby.
The main danger likely comes from the hypothesized Oort cloud, about 50,000AU out. If it exists it would be composed of fairly massive comets, such as Halley (which is believed to have originated there).
Anyway, these objects are so far from the sun, that they're only loosely bound by its gravity, and very easily perturbed by the gravity of nearby stars and the rest of the galaxy as a whole. This tends to send them into the inner galaxy.
Just some months ago a fairly massive object hit Jupiter and left a mark the size of the Pacific Ocean. No one even noticed that it had happened until after the fact, and then it was only noticed by a backyard astronomer. - Shootfast, on 11/10/2009, -1/+3Relevant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThrVQKl04Ak
- Cepster, on 11/10/2009, -1/+3dey took his dawg!
- swizzcheez, on 11/10/2009, -0/+2Amazing! Those 2012 marketing guys stop at nothing to promote a movie!
- jordanmoore, on 11/10/2009, -2/+4dey broke his jerrr!
- hereticoftruth, on 11/10/2009, -0/+2Their aim is improving.
- copypastry, on 11/10/2009, -1/+3Surface area.
A sphere with the surface area of Texas, (696,241km^2) would have a radius of only 235km. - DevinWatson, on 11/10/2009, -0/+2This is how we are going to die, maybe not tomorrow but one day we will have to face a situation where there is no wining scenario. It happened before to the dinosaurs it'll happen again with the mammals, and eventually the only species left on earth will be insects because let's be honest those ***** are everywhere and better suited to survive in adverse situations...
- Cepster, on 11/10/2009, -0/+2BUZZZZZZ
OH, so sorry, thanks for playing though... - Rammat2, on 11/10/2009, -0/+2A 7 meter asteroid? More like a 7 meter meteor.
- Lasereth, on 11/10/2009, -0/+2235km? That's way more than 1 mile.
- jander86, on 11/10/2009, -0/+2When the big one hits, it's not a matter of where, but of how fast we can get a trampoline there.
- ThantiK, on 11/12/2009, -0/+2As if I believed the 2012 ***** in the first place. >_>
- smashblu, on 11/10/2009, -0/+2About 2 hours 56 minutes too late it seems.
- weddle, on 11/10/2009, -0/+2They must be married...
- Kyan, on 11/11/2009, -0/+1Yeah, good stuff! I was sure you were quoting some obscure movie and wanted to see it before the comments below clued me in that it's apparently your original stuff.
Please come back with more! - OrqwithVagrant, on 11/10/2009, -0/+17 meters... If they can change the "planet" definition to exclude Pluto, then I think they should change the "asteroid" definition to exclude things like this. I propose the term "space gravel".
- stuffradio, on 11/10/2009, -0/+1No, it'll be twinkies. Twinkies are like invincible!
- Kyan, on 11/11/2009, -0/+1Don't let the bed bugs bite!
- ZigZagZilla, on 11/10/2009, -0/+1I had asteroids once. I didn't think it was that big a deal...not the way the neighbors went on about it, at least.
- TheMoniker, on 11/11/2009, -0/+1Definitely, that is impressive.
- SquidVet, on 11/10/2009, -0/+1It's seven meters wide. I think we'll be okay. Except for Old Man Clemens. Old Man Clemens HATES asteroids!
- neomatrix724, on 11/10/2009, -0/+1What I want to know is, can anyone account for the location of Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck during this window? Aerosmith as well...
- ricktime, on 11/11/2009, -0/+1What's everyone so worked up about? So there's a comet, big deal. It'll burn up in our atmosphere and whatever is left will be no bigger than a chihuahua's head.
- dabomb00, on 11/11/2009, -0/+1Passed*
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