Help us marvin gardens!!!

“CNN) -- An asteroid recently rediscovered after a 50-year absence could be on a collision course with Earth, NASA astronomers reported. But the planet has 8 years and 11 months to prepare for the potential catastrophe.

The asteroid, roughly 0.6 miles (1.1 km) across, could cause immense damage through a direct hit. Astronomers estimate that the impact could blast a nearly 10-mile (16-km) wide crater, resulting in millions or billions of deaths should it strike a heavily populated area. But Jon Giorgini, leader of a NASA team that tracked the asteroid, said that the odds of a collision are about 30 to one. Although the risk seems slight, it is much greater than that of any other asteroid striking the planet, according to the researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calfornia.”

“Blow it out of the sky?

Thats just what I would do.

What do you think MG????

8/”

“8 years and 11 months to break wilt chamberlians record....i think i can do it!!!”

“This will be another reason/excuse for republicans to trash the planet. "What the hey, it's gonna blow up anyways."”

“I would estimate the asteroid is still about 5800 beers away.”

“I read the CNN report. It said nothing about a 30 to 1 chance of hitting earth. One of two things must be going on. One: CNN is a republican agency keeping us in the dark about this with lies and deception. Two: GDE is a jackass. Hummm . . which is it ?”

“It would appear that GDE has an order-of-magnitude problem. Not surprising, considering some of his posts, but whatever.

From the CNN article:

An asteroid recently rediscovered after a 50-year absence could be on a collision course with Earth, NASA astronomers reported. But the planet has 877 years and 11 months to prepare for the potential catastrophe.

The asteroid, roughly 0.6 miles (1.1 km) across, could cause immense damage through a direct hit. Astronomers estimate that the impact could blast a nearly 10-mile (16-km) wide crater, resulting in thousands or millions of deaths should it strike a heavily populated area.

But Jon Giorgini, leader of a NASA team that tracked the asteroid, said that the odds of a collision are about 300 to one.

Chili, put down the beer. You still have to come to the Sipsey this weekend and help us.”

“Beer tonight......Sipsey tomorrow.

Time management is delicate.”

“So Long, Suckers!!

HA-ha.”

“Well looks like I have to quit my job and do nothing but backpacking untill the end!!!!

He thats not a bad way to go!

8)”

“Asteroid's Far-Off Danger Detailed

Yeah... the sky is falling, so what *else* is new? <G>”

“"I'll tell you what this means, Floyd: no size restrictions and screw the limits!"”

“"Hey LAdy! Your sign fell down!"

(oops. different joke entirely)


No 'johnny-come-lately' after all... the '1950' in the name is a CLUE, LOL...

Science News from July 2001

<snip>

But if the asteroid is small enough and its projected collision is far enough in the future—a thousand years or so—there may be alternatives to explosives. In what some call "the green solution," a robotic craft might paint the surface of the asteroid with a substance that would change the rock's reflectivity or thermal conductivity. A large enough change would, over time, modify the asteroid's interaction with sunlight and alter its path.

One candidate for such treatment might be the asteroid 1950 DA. At the meeting, Jon D. Giorgini of JPL and his colleagues reported calculations that the 1-km-wide body might have as much as a one in 10,000 chance of striking Earth on St. Patrick's Day in 2880.

<snip to end>

Drinks for EVerybody! I'm buyin'!”

“The first one was Republican disinformation. Republicans are noteworthy for their lies and thus are indeed jackasses.

This one is real:

CNN) -- Portions of a spacecraft from a failed 1996 mission could fall back to Earth between Friday and Tuesday, according to NASA predictions. The space agency could not pinpoint the exact time and place.

NASA's High Energy Transient Experiment (HETE) was launched in November 1996 to study gamma-ray bursts -- frequent flashes of high energy that cross the universe. The joint Argentine-U.S. project failed when the spacecraft did not detach from the final stage of the Pegasus rocket that launched it into space.

The spacecraft, with the third stage still attached to it, weighs 1,177 pounds (535 kg). NASA expects that most of the spacecraft will burn up as it falls through the atmosphere. But four stainless steel batteries weighing a total of 33 pounds (15kg) could survive, NASA said Thursday.

Where the debris may strike is unknown. NASA has had no contact with the failed spacecraft since 1996, and has no means of controlling or plotting the re-entry. The agency's rough estimate of re-entry is 7 a.m. EDT Sunday, but it warns that this estimate could be off by as much as 48 hours in either direction.”

“The Pegasus had lotsa problems in the mid-90's... and 'space junk' re-enters the atmosphere all the time. Ever see any? I saw a chunk come down about 10 years ago -- it looked like the biggest, slowest meteor ever.

The chances of anything or anyone being hit are incredibly miniscule. We need Spock to compute the probability... !”

“I'll use liberal math to compute the probability.


Either it crashes to earth or it doesn't, that means a 50-50 chance.”

“I'll use conservative math

Let's spend millions to find nothing, but blame it on Clinton”

“A little more than 8 years left to convince Angelina Jolie to divorce Billy Bob and marry me instead... Hmmm, I think I can still do it.”

“I think you can perfect cloning and have 2 Angelina Jolie clones in that time! Think of the possibilities”