Comments on: Two Asteroids Zip Past Today; Meanwhile, NASA Plans Killer Asteroid Defenses

By: B

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 22:48:04 +0000

An estimate cites the mass of asteroidal objects between Mercury and Jupiter as being approximately 4 Earth masses. The true figure is probably twice as much. Genesis of the terrestrial planets is an on going process which may or may not be convenient for human life on Earth. It is now known that an asteroid about the size of a football field will effectively burn up and disintegrate in the upper atmosphere – very little will remain to touch the ground in one piece. Asteroids about 1 kilometer in diameter will most likely cause headaches for heads of state and insurance companies – mining companies on the otherhand will rejoice over the tons of extraterrestrial metal ore delivered to their doorstep.

By: arthur scott

arthur scott — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 21:27:50 +0000

while it was close one must think about the fact the huge object that slammed into jupiter was found only 18 months before impact, 18 months is not enough time to do anything for earth,.

By: Katharine

Katharine — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 16:31:01 +0000

J, do remember that that people is made up of individual persons. And not all persons react the same to BIG SCARY THINGS.

The average person is actually not that smart. People who read Discover Magazine are more likely to be smart. But not the average person. Are you acquainted with any average people? They are not that smart.

Anyway.

How big were these asteroids, what was the steepest angle at which they could have hit the Earth from their trajectories, and how fast were they going?

By: Rainman

Rainman — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:18:08 +0000

M’s got a great idea but I have a better one: a breathalyzer for internet comments. This way when violet blew a 0.2 after her happy-hour pomegranate margaritas, she’d be barred from clicking the Submit Comment button until she’d sobered up and had a chance to rethink her comment.

By: J

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 03:57:02 +0000

violet, a person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.

By: violet

violet — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 23:17:59 +0000

Since we Americans need to be ‘protected’ against such information, just wondering if the rest of the world knew the asteroids were coming on Sunday when they were first discovered. Thank God I was kept in the blissful state of ignorance that we Americans must stay in because we are such little babies we would panic – according to the power people.

By: m

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:52:16 +0000

too bad we couldn’t catch any of them. Force them to crash into the moon..then send someone to study them.

1) practice for diverting/destroying asteroids that are more dangerous
2) develop technology to do step 1.
3) opportunity to study the formation of solar system.

By: Andrew Moseman

Andrew Moseman — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:03:28 +0000

@Dennis
Yes, there was one typo. Thanks for the catch; fixed.

By: Dennis

Dennis — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:31:48 +0000

I think you’ve got some wires crossed (typos) in which asteroid is which.