Newly interpreted data shows we narrowly avoided possible mass extinction in 1883. - General

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/2037_Apophis_Path_of_Risk.jpg[/img] guess I'm fine then!

For that kind of cluster of comets our only chance of surviving it would be if they'd hit the deepest part of the ocean, and even then it would be a tiny chance.

[QUOTE=Croix;33678444]Yeah I would be totally okay with not being born.[/QUOTE] well you wouldn't be okay, you wouldn't be anything. You'd be not born is what you'd be

[QUOTE=polarbear.;33678361]WHAT IF IT HIT US AND WE ALL DIED[/QUOTE] That would be extremely funny and I would laugh my bones off.

[QUOTE=Contag;33684739][img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/2037_Apophis_Path_of_Risk.jpg[/img] guess I'm fine then![/QUOTE] a) That's the meteorite Apophis which will hit us if it comes by closer than the Moon to Earth (which is fairly small astronomically even though it's 1.1 light seconds long). b) There were 3250 or so of those things, each capable of erradicating an entire forest like Tunguska. Even if all of them hit in Antartica, we'd still be fucked.

[QUOTE=Kendra;33686293]a) That's the meteorite Apophis which will hit us if it comes by closer than the Moon to Earth (which is fairly small astronomically even though it's 1.1 light seconds long). b) There were 3250 or so of those things, each capable of erradicating an entire forest like Tunguska. Even if all of them hit in Antartica, we'd still be fucked.[/QUOTE] I know that I posted the approximate impact of Apophis - My point is that I will be relatively fine in my current location. Fortunately they didn't hit us, and my comment was entirely in reference to Apophis.

Makes me wonder how many times in history comets have narrowly missed hitting Earth.

[QUOTE=KillerTele;33678251]You're more likely to die on your way to the store to buy a lottery ticket than to win one.[/QUOTE] I will never go to the store again

[QUOTE=Jackpody;33677632]It's actually really damn amazing how life even evolved on this very planet and the chances for it. All of the stuff that happened could have been extinguished just like that. Glad we're still here. Also holy shit that's close for comets and everything out there.[/QUOTE] Space is a scary place.

I'm glad Spacewatch is doing a pretty good job tracking and cataloging the near Earth asteroids that could potentially hit us, it's better than just sitting and hoping. But comets are fucking death incarnate, they come screaming in out of the depths of the Kuiper belt at many times the velocity of asteroids and little to no warning. There's one of them out there right now with our name on it, just waiting for a passing star to nudge it into it's long fall into the inner solar system. We stand a fair chance at deflecting smaller asteroids in near Earth orbits, IMO, but if a comet paints a target on our ass we are FUCKED.

What if it comes back to finish the job! :ohdear:

[QUOTE=Mobius;33683100][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfClxN8uXO4[/media] Close enough[/QUOTE] Somehow watching that video ended up with me looking up deaths by meteorites, mass extinctions, the origin of birds and mammals. And it's been three hours since I watched that video.

The weight and size of the damn thing just drives me further into believing we should be mining the heavens.

Gentlemen, I have reached a conclusion. We must declare war on space. We have irrefutable evidence of WMDs... in space. Based off of irrefutable photographic evidence, they are moving these weapons closer to Earth. I suggest we move troops into space to remove the WMDs and bring the madman behind this, Space Saddam, to justice. :Iraq2: