3 ms·
News like this always reminds me how vulnerable our small planet is and despite all the technological development, we can be wiped out from the universe in a se
by pkorzeniewski 14y ago
News like this always reminds me how vulnerable our small planet is and despite all the technological development, we can be wiped out from the universe in a second and there is little we can do about it.
- laumars 14y agothe terrifying thing is how hard they are to detect (basically spotting a black speck against the black of space). But at least, if detected early enough, an asteroids path can be changed. If a star goes supernova within a few million light years of Earth, we'd all be fried. Despite how mind boggling big space is, world extinction events are worryingly easy. /me is pretty sure he'll have nightmares tonight...
- CapitalistCartr 14y ago"If a star goes supernova within a few million light years of Earth, we'd all be fried." Within a few light years, perhaps. The entire Milky Way galaxy is only a little over 100,000 light years across. A few million light years would be outside of the Local Group.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- laumars 14y agoA few million light years could still be within our local group (depending on the exact value of "a few"), but you're right about my error. I'm not really sure where I pulled that epic brain-fart of a figure from...
- dredmorbius 14y agoWe're getting fairly good at detecting asteroids though. Discovery from 1980 - 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_d-gs0WoUw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_d-gs0WoUw