Guess how many asteroids and comets are in our solar system...

Done guessing?








80 million asteroids or as NASA calls the "minor planets"
Half a million comets in our solar system.
Minor planets are made of rock and metal; comets are made of frozen gas.
www.minorplanetcenter.net...
NASA gave the MPC the results of WISE within 10 days of finding a comet or asteroid.
I wonder what the odds are one of them hits us in 2012...

and thats probably a safe estimate and about a fraction of whats really out there...they have no idea of how many there really is and even if they did they wouldnt be letting us know

Originally posted by Ghost375
Done guessing?








80 million asteroids or as NASA calls the "minor planets"
Half a million comets in our solar system.
Minor planets are made of rock and metal; comets are made of frozen gas.
www.minorplanetcenter.net...
NASA gave the MPC the results of WISE within 10 days of finding a comet or asteroid.
I wonder what the odds are one of them hits us in 2012...

You didn't give us long did you? You posted the answer in the OP. You could have had us guessing and trying to work it out very much like the ATS game last night.

However that's a lot, would never had guessed those figures, so thanks for that.

Oh and we will be hit one day, undoubtedly, but 2012? Who knows, that would be a bit coincidental wouldn't it?

reply to post by Ghost375


Most of these asteroids are located in groups in secure orbits. There is the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Then the various asteroid groups that share an orbit with Jupiter. And then there is the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud which are just ridiculous amounts of planetesimals (probably hundreds of billions...). There really aren't that many rogue comets or asteroids that leave these secured orbits... which is why when we discover one: it's a big deal.

So yeah.... although there are hundreds of billions of various planetesimals in the solar system: it doesn't mean there are billions of possibilities of an asteroid or comet hitting the earth...

reply to post by xFloggingMaryx


There's probably only a couple million asteroids in the asteroid belt. The asteroids are so spaced out that in order for an accident to occur, you'd have to try to hit one.

The website has a list of asteroids that pass close to us, the list is quite long.

reply to post by Cobaltic1978

Oh and we will be hit one day, undoubtedly, but 2012? Who knows, that would be a bit coincidental wouldn't it?

We are HIT all the time..
Most burn up but a few make it to earths surface..

reply to post by Ghost375


This belt is now estimated to contain between 1.1 and 1.9 million asteroids larger than 1 km (0.6 mi) in diameter,[29] and millions of smaller ones

en.wikipedia.org...

both the asteriod belt and kupier belt have very stable orbits

Originally posted by backinblack
reply to post by Cobaltic1978

 

Oh and we will be hit one day, undoubtedly, but 2012? Who knows, that would be a bit coincidental wouldn't it?

We are HIT all the time..
Most burn up but a few make it to earths surface..

Yes I totally appreciate that, I was talking about an Extinction Level Impact. I saw a few bright flashes in the sky on Monday evening and assumed that it was a small meteor shower. It was a wonderful sight.

Originally posted by Ghost375
reply to post by xFloggingMaryx

 

There's probably only a couple million asteroids in the asteroid belt. The asteroids are so spaced out that in order for an accident to occur, you'd have to try to hit one.

The website has a list of asteroids that pass close to us, the list is quite long.

Yeah... a couple million in just the asteroid belt. But the asteroid belt is nothing compared to the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/3eb380927f0f.jpg[/atsimg] (picture from discovermagazine.com)

I'll tell you how many there are...

More than you can shake a stick at...

reply to post by Ghost375


Infinite, that's how many, no guess needed I know.

Originally posted by xFloggingMaryx

Originally posted by Ghost375
reply to post by xFloggingMaryx

 

There's probably only a couple million asteroids in the asteroid belt. The asteroids are so spaced out that in order for an accident to occur, you'd have to try to hit one.

The website has a list of asteroids that pass close to us, the list is quite long.

Yeah... a couple million in just the asteroid belt. But the asteroid belt is nothing compared to the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/3eb380927f0f.jpg[/atsimg] (picture from discovermagazine.com)

edit on 13-4-2011 by xFloggingMaryx because: added picture.

Is there real data that shows that the Oort cloud really exists these days? J. Oort didn't have any when he ventured his poorly based assumption on the orbits of seven (specially selected by him) long-period comets that fit his apriori idea. The field of cometary study needed some explanation for where they came from and he invented one.

reply to post by Aliensun

(From www.universetoday.com... )
The sphere was named after the astronomer Jan Oort who hypothesized its existence in 1950. Although its existence has not yet been proven through direct observation, the reality of the Oort Cloud is widely accepted in the scientific community.

And this:

solarsystem.nasa.gov...


There are two links out of thousands of relevant ones that I got from searching google.

So you're right: "it's existence hasn't been proven through direct observation" ... but it is still an accepted hypothesis.