7 ms·
Rising odds asteroid that briefly threatened Earth will hit moon
- treetalker 2y ago> "There is still a 96.2% chance that the asteroid will miss the moon," NASA said in a statement on Thursday. All is well! > It is now believed to be 53 to 67 meters, roughly the height of a 15-story building. Good thing we have so much confidence in our leadership and intergovernmental cooperative relationships!
- beefalker 2y ago[flagged]
- znkynz 2y agoA 15 story building... is the most odd relative measurement to use - wtf?
- hunter-gatherer 2y agoI used to live in a 14 story building, so I have a pretty good approximation of the size.
- mountainriver 2y ago150 foot longs
- 3eb7988a1663 2y agoIs that a pre or post lawsuit foot long? (Subway was sued that the "foot longs" were only 11-11.5 inches in length: https://www.startribune.com/subway-to-ensure-footlongs-measure-up-after-lawsuit/370511581 https://www.startribune.com/subway-to-ensure-footlongs-measu...)
- janderson215 2y ago$750 before tax
- janderson215 2y agoIt’s about 1/4 furlong
- mehwoot 2y agoIt's about 1 olympic sized swimming pool long, although I guess we're only allowed to use that for volume
- owlninja 2y agoAbout 200 hundred ducks stacked on top of each other.
- mark-r 2y agoNo weirder than measuring things by feet.
- aledalgrande 2y agoYou'd be happy to know we measure the size of horses in hands
- janderson215 2y agoAfrican or European?
- Galatians4_16 2y agoHow many SG1 Furlings is that?
- simondotau 2y agoCan you suggest something better? I’ve seen a 15 story building, so I’ve got some idea of scale.
- ac2u 2y agoAround 14 million SEGA Dreamcasts
- znkynz 2y ago~53-67 Metres?
- eknkc 2y agoYou know what, 15 story building is more intuitive. For a couple of meters it works, I can imagine a 3 meter wide asteroid just fine. But at 50 meters it becomes a distance unit for me and I can’t easily imagine an object with a 50m dimension. I’ve seen actual 15 story buildings though.
- nkrisc 2y agoI find it useful, I could immediately picture a several buildings about that height I know.
- simondotau 2y agoIn all seriousness, I don’t believe a collision with the moon is something we need to be concerned about.
- davidw 2y agoSomeone didn't read Neal Stephenson's book.
- intrasight 2y agoUnless what hits it is a miniature black hole or is made of solid metal, the moon should be fine. It gets hit by much bigger thing is on the regular - geologically speaking. Seveneves was a fun book!
- aaronbrethorst 2y agoThis is my regular reminder to stop reading 2/3 of the way through the book. It will feel like a traditional, abrupt Stephenson ending, but you will save yourself hours of time and potentially blindness-inducing eye-rolling.
- Carrok 2y agoI don't know why everyone seems to hate the last 1/3 so much. I find it a very interesting, fresh take on things. I enjoy it every time.
- ClosedPistachio 2y ago>"There is still a 96.2% chance that the asteroid will miss the moon," NASA said in a statement on Thursday. Isn't this completely divorced from the article title? Shouldn't it be "could hit moon"?
- CGamesPlay 2y agoNo, because the odds used to be 97%, therefore the odds of it hitting are raising.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- tombert 2y agoIt would be pretty cool if it hits the moon. Hopefully in about five years we will know pretty accurately if that's still the case, in which case I think I will use this as an excuse to finally buy a telescope. Maybe even record it!
- mirekrusin 2y agoDoesn’t that create risk of some crap from the moon going in the direction of the earth?
- analog31 2y ago... And wrecking our satellites?
- mirekrusin 2y agoHow many satellites have to be destroyed to create chain reaction of debris destroying other satellites/polluting orbit with enough debris so its permanent danger zone for satellites and rockets passing through?
- calciphus 2y agoIt is unlikely that the amount of debris would reach Kessler Syndrome-levels of orbital pollution, which is what you are describing.
- BurningFrog 2y agoIt's a 60 meter big rock. Any debris it can dislodge from the moon will be substantially smaller.
- ryandrake 2y agoAnd even if it was bigger, and it dislodged bigger rocks, these rocks would basically stay in the same orbit around the Earth as the moon is. The extreme amount of dV it would take to escape the moon’s existing orbit in the right direction so as to fall anywhere near the Earth makes this scenario improbable. I believe (don’t quote me) that we are talking on the order of 10km/s.
- krunck 2y agoGiven the known size of the asteroid and assuming a direct impact how big of a crater would be created?(give an existing crater as an example for extra points) And would any ejecta make it to Earth?
- iJohnDoe 2y ago> It is now believed to be 53 to 67 meters, roughly the height of a 15-story building. > This is significant because it is bigger than the 50-meter threshold for activating planetary defense plans. > If the asteroid still had a more than 1% chance of hitting Earth, "the development of one or more deflection missions would already be starting now", Moissl said. Well, I hope they are right, because it appears we’re going to miss the opportunity to do anything about it if they are wrong.
- Galatians4_16 2y agoWe should redirect it into the moon if it doesn't. For Science™.
- marviel 2y agoIf you're curious about what might happen here if the explosion was REALLY big -- Seveneves by Neal Stephenson is a fun speculative fiction read. (But this is almost certainly too small)
- conception 2y ago“Fun” Mistakenly started this during Covid and decidedly the wrong vibe for that time period.
- marviel 2y agoVery fair
- dreamcompiler 2y agoProtecting Earth from asteroids is part of the job we hired the Moon to do. I mean, have you seen the back side of that thing? Kidding aside, an argument can be made that life on Earth would never have had time to evolve if not for the Moon's protective effect against cataclysmic impacts.
- blackoil 2y agoBy then, China and hopefully US shall have observation satellites revolving moon and a scientific base. If it happens, we will be getting tonnes of data otherwise nearly impossible to get.
- rich_sasha 2y agoIf it does, what are the odds we would be able to see it? For starters, I would imagine it is at least 50% likely to hit the far side of the Moon, which we ~never see. Perhaps worse, because for it to hit the near side, it has to fly past the Earth somewhat, diminishing the odds. But then, it also needs to be on the lit side. On the expected date of impact, 22nd Dec 2032, it will be 2 days after new moon, so not much lit area to aim for. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯