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NASA predicts asteroid to make one of closest approaches to Earth ever recorded

jpl.nasa.gov

21–30 of 84 posts

Re: NASA predicts asteroid to make one of closest approaches to Earth ever recorded

#21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gamblers fallacy is about independent probably - there are cyclical natural catastrophes.

> there are cyclical natural catastrophes That sounds very made up.

Hurricanes are cyclical. It’s not made up. I’m sure there’s a season for tornadoes and blizzards as well.

Re: NASA predicts asteroid to make one of closest approaches to Earth ever recorded

#22
post #4

> The asteroid was discovered by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov, discoverer of the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov, from his MARGO observatory in Nauchnyi, Crimea, on Saturday, Jan. 21. Discovered 5 days before its closest approach. It’s amazing how much “stuff” is out there to learn, and how something can sneak in so “close”.

Damn. I almost wish I didn't know this.

Re: NASA predicts asteroid to make one of closest approaches to Earth ever recorded

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gamblers fallacy is about independent probably - there are cyclical natural catastrophes.

> there are cyclical natural catastrophes That sounds very made up.

Well, we know for a fact that every once in a while, we get hit by an asteroid (which is exactly what this is about). I'd call that cyclical and not made up.

Re: NASA predicts asteroid to make one of closest approaches to Earth ever recorded

#24

This is HN, I can be cynical, right? Allow me to air one of my pet peeves: articles that make the threat of an asteroid collision with Earth something we should be afraid of. (Oh, and films of course.) I never understood why anyone should give it any more than even a passing thought. As a layman my understanding is that the last great extinction event from an asteroid was like (Wikipedia tells me) 66 million years ag…

Yes, a super massive strike is likely very rare and does not happen very often. But smaller asteroids hit the planet more frequently (relatively speaking), yet would still cause a huge catastrophe. It wouldn't cause a mass extinction, but it would still... suck.

Re: NASA predicts asteroid to make one of closest approaches to Earth ever recorded

#26
post #4

> The asteroid was discovered by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov, discoverer of the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov, from his MARGO observatory in Nauchnyi, Crimea, on Saturday, Jan. 21. Discovered 5 days before its closest approach. It’s amazing how much “stuff” is out there to learn, and how something can sneak in so “close”.

Imagine standing in a field on a moonless night while someone shines a flashlight at you from one direction. You are told you are surrounded by a number of people whom you can't see and that they will now proceed to throw rocks at you ranging in size from pebbles to bricks. That's roughly the level of anxiety you should have about our current situation.

Re: NASA predicts asteroid to make one of closest approaches to Earth ever recorded

#27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gamblers fallacy is about independent probably - there are cyclical natural catastrophes.

> there are cyclical natural catastrophes That sounds very made up.

I don’t really follow astrophysics, but there were hypotheses that the motion of the solar system through the galactic plane, which has a periodicity, would induce impact events. A cursory search suggests that recent analyses of crater data may not support those hypotheses. Here’s a link to a 2011 paper suggesting as much.

So the notion was certainly a reasonable one even if not ultimately true.

https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/416/2/1163/1058876

Re: NASA predicts asteroid to make one of closest approaches to Earth ever recorded

#29
post #4

> The asteroid was discovered by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov, discoverer of the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov, from his MARGO observatory in Nauchnyi, Crimea, on Saturday, Jan. 21. Discovered 5 days before its closest approach. It’s amazing how much “stuff” is out there to learn, and how something can sneak in so “close”.

Imagine standing in a field on a moonless night while someone shines a flashlight at you from one direction. You are told you are surrounded by a number of people whom you can't see and that they will now proceed to throw rocks at you ranging in size from pebbles to bricks. That's roughly the level of anxiety you should have about our current situation.

Wouldn't they be throwing the rocks at the flashlight guy?

Re: NASA predicts asteroid to make one of closest approaches to Earth ever recorded

#30

This is HN, I can be cynical, right? Allow me to air one of my pet peeves: articles that make the threat of an asteroid collision with Earth something we should be afraid of. (Oh, and films of course.) I never understood why anyone should give it any more than even a passing thought. As a layman my understanding is that the last great extinction event from an asteroid was like (Wikipedia tells me) 66 million years ag…

> This is HN, I can be cynical, right?

Your comment isn't cynical, it is more akin to a lucid perspective of a set of threats.

The economy and threats to democratic process are more worrisome -- and yet at the same time, much more within our capability to fix than an asteroid strike.

For a lucid fictional presentation of an asteroid strike, I recommend "Lucifer's Hammer" by Niven and Pournelle.^1

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer%27s_Hammer

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