Earth woefully unprepared for surprise comet or asteroid, Nasa scientist warns

www.theguardian.com...

I don't know if this is fake news or real news. When I go on Nasa site. I get no information on this 'comet/astroid' going to hit earth. The dude joseph nuth is a real dude that works for NASA (checked on nasa site).

But I also find it suspicious.

What do you think?

Edit: I am very fatigued. If I miss read the article. I apologize.

Not sure you read your own link. NASA is NOT saying there is a specific threat. All they are saying that if one is suddenly discovered, we are ill prepared to deal with it.

It's real ... but not new news.

Even the article makes it clear that hits are very rare but ... “But on the other hand they are the extinction-level events, things like dinosaur killers, they’re 50 to 60 million years apart, essentially. You could say, of course, we’re due, but it’s a random course at that point.”

We need to be watching and tracking these things and have a plan to hopefully deflect one that looks like it will hit. this has been argued for years and years.

I doubt they could stop it anyhow.
We are hitchhiking to the iss now.

a reply to: CaptainHook

If I was looking for a reason not to go to work today, I just found it.



Eventually, the earth will suffer a major impact. I doubt we will see it in our lifetime.

a reply to: CaptainHook

I believe it is about the probability and how we should prepare by making weapons that will deflect one. That is why the push for a human colony on mars. Which, I suppose starting over with the genes of scientists and wealthy would not be a bad thing in the long run.

a reply to: CaptainHook

I think you meant to write:

"Earth woefully unprepared for surprise comet or asteroid, Nasa scientist warns "


NASA is not claiming that the Earth will be hit by an asteroid or a comet.

A member of one of their many research teams, is making a report to NASA which they will have to pass on up the chain, which suggests that in the event of an asteroid or comet being detected which was on a collision course with our planet, that our readiness to respond effectively and in time, is basically nil at this point. The report will suggest bringing forward plans to establish a dedicated rapid response craft to deal with such threats by a few years, and points out that even this is not enough, because we still do not know enough about the mechanics of actually deflecting or destroying such objects in a way which will be safe.

There is a very big difference between pointing out a poor readiness level, and suggesting something is on its way right now, which is what your title suggests.

NASA is just stating the bleeding obvious.

The issue for us is whether it will "glance" off and be pretty much destroyed by the atmosphere, or land in some unpopulated place of no significance - like Russia (e.g. Tunguska). It would be rather serious if it came down on somewhere that mattered, like Wiltshire.

If it's an "extinction" event, then I should be OK. I have a stout kitchen table and a book by Ray Mears.

We're all gonna die.

No really..

drive safe everyone, or walk.. or sit, or sleep.



I'm crawling, thats safe. Oo

a reply to: paraphi

If it's an "extinction" event, then I should be OK. I have a stout kitchen table and a book by Ray Mears.

damm it - i has a kitchen table by ray mears and a stout book

a reply to: TrueBritProbably my fatigue is effecting my ability to read probably.

originally posted by: CaptainHook
a reply to: TrueBritProbably my fatigue is effecting my ability to read probably.

Initially mentioned about changing the header but you already did that..

There are no preparations possible for the ones that get ya, the ones that you don't see coming. See a flash of light, run outside and stand there, staring like the curiously stupid people we are...

As has been pointed out, the article doesn't say the Earth is going to be hit by an asteroid or comet.

Furthermore, if you're interested in knowing more about what happens with impacts of unidentified phenomenon, check out the Tunguska event, you may just be surprised at what was actually said and shown about that incident:

In 1908, a massive fireball, believed to be 50-100m wide, flattened hundreds of square miles of forest in Siberia, near the Podkamennaya Tunguska river. Windows were blown out more than 30 miles away, and witnesses reported burns on their skin and finding the charred remains of a herd of reindeer. Scientists calculate that the Tunguska event, as it’s called, was an explosion about 185 times stronger than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

originally posted by: CaptainHook
www.theguardian.com...

I don't know if this is fake news or real news. When I go on Nasa site. I get no information on this 'comet/astroid' going to hit earth.

But if they knew it was coming, then it wouldn't be a surprise.
[just kidding, OP ]

I do not buy this for a second. I bet NASA has been in super secret discussions with Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck to save us.

Hopefully they stick Kanye on this mission too.

originally posted by: ignorant_ape
a reply to: paraphi

If it's an "extinction" event, then I should be OK. I have a stout kitchen table and a book by Ray Mears.

damm it - i has a kitchen table by ray mears and a stout book

Maybe I'll get a stout beer from the kitchen and catch some rays.

a reply to: MOMof3

starting over with the genes of scientists and wealthy would not be a bad thing in the long run.

Why? They get sick just like the rest of us. Gene testing and picking from familial lines that just don't seem to get cancer/birth defects/etc...would make better colonists. Intelligence would also be a large factor, but being wealthy doesn't mean you're smart. Look at Paris Hilton.

a reply to: Bluntone22

But, if it could be stopped, do we have the means to do so? Perhaps we could do an "Armageddon" on it... oh, wait...

a reply to: DAVID64

I agree with that. But, I don't see regular people affording a trip to Mars.