A Conversation for Ask h2g2
Just in case asteroid 2012 DA14 doesn't miss the earth
clare Started conversation Feb 10, 2013
The scientists all say it is impossible that asteroid 2012 DA14 will hit the earth but, I mean, really, I am so curious, the scenarios - what are the possibilities if they are wrong and it does??
To start off, suppose it is just a bit off course and plows into the earth in a very shallow trajectory. How far will it skid before it either stops or falls off the edge of the earth?
I am interested in the science here
Just in case asteroid 2012 DA14 doesn't miss the earth
ITIWBS Posted Feb 10, 2013
...see the streak about 2/5 from the left and 2/5 from the bottom terminating in a crater surrounded by splash debris?
Just in case asteroid 2012 DA14 doesn't miss the earth
clare Posted Feb 10, 2013
Wow, great photo ITIWBS !
Now if someone could translate that into what would happen to soil, rocks, trees lakes and streams and even, buildings, if that happened on our planet, and for how far?
Just in case asteroid 2012 DA14 doesn't miss the earth
Rod Posted Feb 10, 2013
Hmm... wonder if I got the wrong heavenly body AND the wrong date?
A87778453
Just in case asteroid 2012 DA14 doesn't miss the earth
Alfster Posted Feb 10, 2013
I've already kissed my (_!_) goodbye.
Just in case asteroid 2012 DA14 doesn't miss the earth
tucuxii Posted Feb 10, 2013
If it reached the surface it would break up before or during impacts releasing vaste amounts of energy with dire consequences for us all so it would not skip back into space however it could skip off the atmosphere....
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090302.html
Just in case asteroid 2012 DA14 doesn't miss the earth
ITIWBS Posted Feb 10, 2013
Admittedly, the photo of a feature on the far side of the moon is of an impact feature of the character made on an airless and waterless body.
The crater with the splash debris is the site of the initial impact, by an object hitting almost exactly tangent to the surface, the momentum carrying a major part of the splash debris into the plume extending on a diagonal to the left and toward the bottom of the page.
In alignment with that, a distance about like its own length, there's a clearly defined and smaller impact crater, possibly produced a piece of the object that 'bounced' on a high trajectory, making that crater when it fell back.
Arthur C. Clarke suggested that with a sizable object merely passing through the atmosphere on a grazing trajectory without quite impacting the surface, the effect would be like passing a scaled up blow torch over the surface of the planet beneath its path.
Just in case asteroid 2012 DA14 doesn't miss the earth
Xanatic Posted Feb 10, 2013
You could look at the Tunguska incident, for a suggestion as to what could happen. If the asteroid hits the water, you might also end up with some quite devastating tsunamis.
Just in case asteroid 2012 DA14 doesn't miss the earth
paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant Posted Feb 10, 2013
I've seen descriptions of the probable aftereffects of the object that ended the Age of the Dinosaurs 65 million years ago: tsunamis thousands of feet high that washed over and over the Indian subcontinent, molten material blasted into the stratosphere and then falling back to earth as fiery pellets. There is speculation that the most intelligent species of dinosaur ever was probably alive then, and might have seen the disaster coming. Maybe they were wading in cold water and wondering how much worse the climate could get. The answer was roaring down at them from space.
Just in case asteroid 2012 DA14 doesn't miss the earth
Xanatic Posted Feb 10, 2013
The "Year without a summer" should also give you an idea what debris blasted into the atmosphere could do.
Just in case asteroid 2012 DA14 doesn't miss the earth
paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant Posted Feb 10, 2013
That was 1816, wasn't it?
Just in case asteroid 2012 DA14 doesn't miss the earth
Xanatic Posted Feb 10, 2013
I believe so, at least that's what Rasputina would have you believe.
Just in case asteroid 2012 DA14 doesn't miss the earth
ITIWBS Posted Feb 11, 2013
"The Year Without a Summer", also 1779.
Just in case asteroid 2012 DA14 doesn't miss the earth
Yelbakk Posted Feb 11, 2013
Around where I live, it was also 2012.
Just in case asteroid 2012 DA14 doesn't miss the earth
paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant Posted Feb 11, 2013
Was 1779 the year when New York Harbor froze solid? That was a mini-Ice Age, from what I've read. The cold period extended well into the 19th Century, though most years had adequate summers.
Just in case asteroid 2012 DA14 doesn't miss the earth
paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant Posted Feb 11, 2013
But a lot of us are not British. Americans talk about the weather quite often. Mark Twain said that he counted more than 100 types of weather in one 24-hour period. Vermonters are said to call Spring the Mud Season. Jeff Foxworthy [a Southern comedian who became famous for telling redneck jokes] said that New Englanders had four seasons: almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter, and Road Construction. he got it exactly right, too!
Just in case asteroid 2012 DA14 doesn't miss the earth
tucuxii Posted Feb 12, 2013
There is the difference you have a climate we just get random weather (and if we talk about anything else our stiff upper lips might drop off)
Key: Complain about this post
Just in case asteroid 2012 DA14 doesn't miss the earth
- 1: clare (Feb 10, 2013)
- 2: ITIWBS (Feb 10, 2013)
- 3: ITIWBS (Feb 10, 2013)
- 4: clare (Feb 10, 2013)
- 5: Rod (Feb 10, 2013)
- 6: clare (Feb 10, 2013)
- 7: Alfster (Feb 10, 2013)
- 8: tucuxii (Feb 10, 2013)
- 9: ITIWBS (Feb 10, 2013)
- 10: Xanatic (Feb 10, 2013)
- 11: paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant (Feb 10, 2013)
- 12: Xanatic (Feb 10, 2013)
- 13: paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant (Feb 10, 2013)
- 14: Xanatic (Feb 10, 2013)
- 15: ITIWBS (Feb 11, 2013)
- 16: Yelbakk (Feb 11, 2013)
- 17: paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant (Feb 11, 2013)
- 18: Deb (Feb 11, 2013)
- 19: paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant (Feb 11, 2013)
- 20: tucuxii (Feb 12, 2013)
More Conversations for Ask h2g2
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."