NASA: There is No Asteroid Threatening Earth

a reply to: tsurfer2000h

And yet nothing has been kept from the public about asteroids and they indeed tell us about those that could be close...TPTB aren't going to silence all amateur astronomers that see something like that heading for Earth.

But these asteroids were not a danger to us. Ok, if NASA learnt that an astaroid was heading our way , and this astaroid was on a path to hit earth in about 12 months . What do you think would happen if they went public with this?

Do you think people will just say "oh well" and get on with their lives, their jobs? The human race would pretty much stop to a halt. Do you know what that would mean?

There is no way on hell that they would come out with this, unless they had too.

originally posted by: Jay-morris
a reply to: tsurfer2000h

And yet nothing has been kept from the public about asteroids and they indeed tell us about those that could be close...TPTB aren't going to silence all amateur astronomers that see something like that heading for Earth.

But these asteroids were not a danger to us. Ok, if NASA learnt that an astaroid was heading our way , and this astaroid was on a path to hit earth in about 12 months . What do you think would happen if they went public with this?

Do you think people will just say "oh well" and get on with their lives, their jobs? The human race would pretty much stop to a halt. Do you know what that would mean?

There is no way on hell that they would come out with this, unless they had too.

Why does everything has to hinge on NASA? Please read my post earlier in this thread. There are lots of amateur and professional (non-NASA) programs and networks that scour the skies in search of new objects. A large asteroid capable of catastrophic destruction on a collision course with Earth would be discovered (and anounced) by somebody sooner than later.

a reply to: wildespace

Why does everything has to hinge on NASA? Please read my post earlier in this thread. There are lots of amateur and professional (non-NASA) programs and networks that scour the skies in search of new objects. A large asteroid capable of catastrophic destruction on a collision course with Earth would be discovered (and anounced) by somebody sooner than later.

What percentage of the sky is watched by non NASA or other non government entities?

He said they would keep it a secret for as long as they could which seems completely logical.

a reply to: wildespace

Why does everything has to hinge on NASA? Please read my post earlier in this thread. There are lots of amateur and professional (non-NASA) programs and networks that scour the skies in search of new objects. A large asteroid capable of catastrophic destruction on a collision course with Earth would be discovered (and anounced) by somebody sooner than later.

Of course if NASA did find a huge meteorite for earth they would tell the government first . you really think they would tell the media first?

I am not saying that a meteorite heading for earth would not be known by amutaur astronomers. I am saying that if the government could keep it from people, they would.

It makes perfect sense why they would. What's the point in telling people we are most likely going to die in the near future. What would be the point?

originally posted by: CharlieSpeirs
So, "no existing evidence based on known asteroids/comets" is the same as the absolutism you're espousing?

Great.

Wait -- So you are saying that there is no way NASA should have made the declaration that they did, which was:

"There is no scientific basis -- not one shred of evidence -- that an asteroid or any other celestial object will impact Earth on those dates [between September 15 and September 28]".

I'm not sure what you want them to say instead. Do you want them to finish that statement with "...but you never know!" ?

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

I'm not sure what you want them to say instead.

How bout "There is no asteroid threatening Earth on those dates [between September 15 and September 28]"

originally posted by: LesBrocknar
a reply to: wildespace
What percentage of the sky is watched by non NASA or other non government entities?

Pretty much all of it, from the North Star to the southern celestial pole, and all around the equator (because the earth rotates). In fact, an awful lot of new asteroid and comet discoveries come from the amateurs or non-NASA observatories. NASA have their hands tied by the low budget and the focus on specific missions, they even asked the amateurs for help in spotting potential hazardous asteroids: cw39.com...

See, NASA are even asking the amateurs to look out for any potentially dangerous asteroids!

~~~

Case in point for this topic: the impact of 2008 TC3 asteroid. It was discovered using the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) 1.5-meter telescope at Mount Lemmon, Arizona. The initial trajectory calculations showed that it was on a collision course with Earth, and the data was quickly shared with other observatories, where the calculations were confirmed. In total, 586 astrometric and almost as many photometric observations were performed by 27 amateur and professional observers in less than 19 hours and reported to the Minor Planet Center, which issued 25 Minor Planet Electronic Circulars with new orbit solutions in eleven hours as observations poured in. The asteroid impacted Earth's atmosphere 19 hours after the discovery.


www.youtube.com...

originally posted by: LesBrocknar
a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

I'm not sure what you want them to say instead.

How bout "There is no asteroid threatening Earth on those dates [between September 15 and September 28]"

The headline is a headline -- it's not the story.

In response to the rumors about an asteroid threat there is no asteroid threatening the Earth between Spetember 15 and the 28, the headline summarizes the story in a nutshell (which is what a headline is meant to be), speaking directly to those rumors -- i.e., there is no asteroid threatening Earth, contrary to the rumors.

But like I said, that's just the headline, and not the story. If someone wants the more detailed information behind the headline, they need to read the story.

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

But they also said this in the same article with that title.

In fact, NASA's Near-Earth Object Observations Program says there have been no asteroids or comets observed that would impact Earth anytime in the foreseeable future. All known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids have less than a 0.01% chance of impacting Earth in the next 100 years.

"Again, there is no existing evidence that an asteroid or any other celestial object is on a trajectory that will impact Earth," said Chodas. "In fact, not a single one of the known objects has any credible chance of hitting our planet over the next century."

There are still unkown objects so they can't be sure that no asteroid is threatening Earth, and they should have refered to those dates specifically.

"If there were any object large enough to do that type of destruction in September, we would have seen something of it by now," he stated.

Lol, that sounds like a generic (and reasonable)debunker reply on this forum. "Hey man, if Nibiru was coming, we would've noticed it by now...."

Actually it almost sounds like they really don't have a clue and that they can't be sure with any new object further than a month away.

Maybe he was just being sarcastic.

originally posted by: Phage
NASA lies.
Always.

Am I right? I mean, we've been hit every time NASA said we wouldn't be. Right?

I wish I could give you more than one star.

a reply to: LesBrocknar

Actually it almost sounds like they really don't have a clue and that they can't be sure with any new object further than a month away.

That would depend on how large is it.

Here's a cool thing, as far as keeping a large approaching object a secret goes:
www.topcoder.com...

To be honest, I hadn't even heard of this asteroid impact rumour until I saw the NASA article on it (and immediately thought "how silly of them to spend time and effort on debunking such rumours"). That's probably because I visit credible astronomy and space sites as opposed to crank/anti-mainsteam sites.

Anyway, Phil Plait just posted his take on the thing: www.slate.com...

A snippet:

There are a lot of reasons this story is nonsense.

It was on Before It’s News, a crackpot website that is to accuracy what Donald Trump is to humility. I also try to avoid getting my news from sites that leave vowels out of their name.
The claim that a comet over two miles wide will hit the Earth in a month or two is ridiculous right away: It would be one of the brightest objects in the sky. I think someone might have noticed.
NASA couldn’t cover something like this up. First of all, they’re not the world’s only space agency. Second, NASA doesn’t control all the telescopes in the world. Or even really any. There are tens of thousands of astronomers all over the planet who would have seen and been talking about an object that big headed our way.
As Ron Baalke pointed out, NASA announced two asteroid impacts, one in 2014 and the other in 2008 — both were small rocks that burned up in our atmosphere, but it shows that NASA has not covered such things up in the past.
Also, how many times have we heard this kind of crap from breathless pseudoscience sites? Many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many times.
And how many times have they been right? Oh yeah: none. None more times.

Phil's blog article is very good at disseminating this hoax, and I'm glad he agrees that NASA are wasting their time on debunking this. Even when the "believers" see that nothing of sorts happened on those dates, they will quickly forget about the "prediction" and move on to new nonsensical "preditions". They never learn.

a reply to: Phage

That would depend on how large is it.

He was refering to a large enough object when he said "we would have seen something by now", a month before the supposed date......

So tell me, how capable are they really?

Here's a cool thing, as far as keeping a large approaching object a secret goes:

I didn't say they could keep it a secret until it was very close. I said they would as long as they could.

Also, the result of this program will be that more units will be looking at more of the sky, it doesn't mean we can look further ahead.

Funny introduction vid on that site.

"bla bla sometimes asteroids crash into us, but dont worry, there aren't any impending threats....that we know about...."

Lol.

"why should you care, well just last year an asteroid exploded over Rusia with the force of 500.000 tonnes of tnt and it was completely undetected before it entered the atmosphere, the dinosaurs would've cared if they knew about this problem."

Lol.

The fearmongers!

He was refering to a large enough object when he said "we would have seen something by now", a month before the supposed date......

So tell me, how capable are they really?

So basically you are saying:

1. You can't predict when some idiot drunk driver is going to be speeding down the road , because you don't know who is going to be driving 30 days from now.

2. Since that can't be predicted how capable is anyone as a driver.


Could their be a rogue planet , Nibiru-PlanetX-whatever it's current cool name is, playing hide n seek with Earth just waiting for the right time to strike..sure

Could their be an asteroid hurtling towards us that NASA can't predict because they can't see the future, sure.

Could Kate Upton take me to a Slayer concert tonight, sure..

That final scenario is just as valid as the other 2 and like the other two, what is the point is basic your argument on things you can't prove or have no proof of ?

a reply to: opethPA

There can obviously be an object several months out that they can't aware of, at any time. In addition to that they haven't got the whole sky covered.

I mean they even say they need our help.

I am not worried about such things at all, but it is what it is.

a reply to: Chadwickus

Why would NASA say there is no asteroid threat now when last year they were promoting asteroid defense!

www.abovetopsecret.com...

If there is no threat then what was the big deal with Asteroid Awareness Day?
www.asteroidday.org...

originally posted by: SayonaraJupiter
a reply to: Chadwickus

Why would NASA say there is no asteroid threat now when last year they were promoting asteroid defense!

Because a disastrous impact can (and will) happen sooner or later. It helps to be more aware and to plan ahead.

But the fact remains, a large asteroid capable of ELE or even destruction of a city would be detectable weeks or months in advance, even by the amateurs.

a reply to: wildespace

a large asteroid capable of ELE or even destruction of a city would be detectable weeks or months in advance, even by the amateurs.

I'm sure the people of Chelyabinsk appreciate NASA's new statement which contradicts their position from one year ago.

This is a big flip/flop for NASA. Last year there was big media campaign about asteroids. Now, they say "no threat" and we are expected to swallow that b*s* digest it and # it back out.... which is what you are doing by repeating the NASA line.

What are your sources for "a large asteroid capable of ELE or even destruction of a city would b detectable weeks or months in advance, even by the amateurs."

Let's have the source for that. I want to know who said that...

originally posted by: SayonaraJupiter
a reply to: wildespace

a large asteroid capable of ELE or even destruction of a city would be detectable weeks or months in advance, even by the amateurs.

I'm sure the people of Chelyabinsk appreciate NASA's new statement which contradicts their position from one year ago.

This is a big flip/flop for NASA....

Chelyabinsk is not a good example, because it was too small for its air burst to be able to destroy a city -- the evidence being that it did not destroy the city of Chelyabinsk. Objects such as that would air burst at high altitudes, meaning they need to be larger to destroy a city.

It could be argued that something large enough to destroy a city (a Tunguska-sized object?) would have a much greater chance of being detected by the people who look for NEOs.

And they didn't say "No Threat". They said "there is no evidence that an asteroid or any other celestial object will impact Earth on those dates". NASA certainly understands that there is a threat, and has openly discussed that threat many times in the past.

originally posted by: SayonaraJupiter
a reply to: wildespace
I'm sure the people of Chelyabinsk appreciate NASA's new statement which contradicts their position from one year ago.

The Chelyabinsk meteor wasn't a city-destroyer, let alone an ELE-type event. It was a relatively small object that didn't even survive it to the ground in once piece. Granted, it was approaching from the direction of the Sun, and thus was very hard to spot in advance. But the larger the object, the easier it is to spot and the sooner it can be discovered.

This is a big flip/flop for NASA. Last year there was big media campaign about asteroids. Now, they say "no threat" and we are expected to swallow that b*s* digest it and # it back out.... which is what you are doing by repeating the NASA line.

The threat is always there. What NASA said is that, right now, there is no evidence of anything big on a collision course with us. This might change tomorrow; some astronomer might look at the latest photographic data and spot one, like it happened with 2008 TC3. When it happens, you will learn of this from the astronomy community and the Minor Planet Center, not from Before It's News.

What are your sources for "a large asteroid capable of ELE or even destruction of a city would b detectable weeks or months in advance, even by the amateurs."

Let's have the source for that. I want to know who said that...

I'm the source. I know enough of how astronomy and celestial mechanics work to gather that a large asteroid (50m and larger) approaching Earth will be easy to spot, due to its size.

Here's an article about amateurs discovering a NEO which gets no closer to Earth than 18 miles: www.space.com...
I've calculated that that asteroid is approximately 300 meters in diameter.

~~~

As you and many others here on ATS ridicule astronomers and space agencies, clutching at straws and finding a fault in everything, they are hard at work scanning the sky and looking out for NEOs and potentially dangerous objects. So please have some respect. You or you descendants might owe them their lives some day.

P.S. just to give you an idea, as of now, the Minor Planet Center lists 960 NEOs discovered this year, including 79 discovered this month. If you include all other asteroids, a whopping 62485 of them was discovered this year, including 8024 this month. An awful lot of these discoveries are from the amateurs and amateur-run networks.