Interesting, thanx

---

Near Earth Objects.
Since 1957, more than 8,000 satellites and spacecraft have been sent into space.
Still, around 3,000 satellites circulate in different lanes around the globe, and of them, 1,400 perform tasks centrally for today's society to work.
But nowadays, the socially-beneficial spacecrafts are threatened of their wrecked predecessors, more and more.

Our space junk has gotten to be way more than an annoyance.

---

Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

How about placing large panels of aerogel in strategic locations near the ISS. From what I have read the stuff can trap small high speed particles and then later be retrieved for safe disposal.

---

Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

Could asteroids bombard the Earth to cause a mass extinction in 10 million years?

Scientists have spent decades debating whether asteroids and comets hit the Earth at regular intervals. At the same time, a few studies have found evidence that the large extinction events on Earth – such as the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 66m years ago – repeat themselves every 26m to 30m years. Given that there's good evidence that an asteroid triggered the dinosaur extinction, it makes sense to ask whether showers of asteroids could be to blame for regular extinction events.

The question is extremely important – if we could prove that this is the case, then we might be able to predict and even prevent asteroids causing mass extinctions in the future. We have tried to find out the answer.

Is our time here on earth up??

---

I have a feeling that if a large group of asteroids were to invade the inner solar system any defensive system we might have in place would be overwhelmed. That's assuming we ever get around to building such a system. I still maintain that it will take a massive hit on a densely populated area to stir us from our collective attitude that it can't happen to us.

---

Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

Well; has any species been extinct recently due to a catastrophic event from the Cosmos ?

Is our time here on earth up??

My guess is that we are extinct even before such an event.
And how many mass extinctions have there been because of asteroids?
One?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_event#Causes

Most paleontologists now agree that an asteroid did hit the Earth about 66 Ma ago, but there is an ongoing dispute whether the impact was the sole cause of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.[

I'm thinking along the lines of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9. Earth would have been extinct. Thanks Jupiter. :)

One day earth will get pounded by an asteroid/comet. The universe is so big with rocks/comets in/out of orbit. we can't deflect all of them.

---

I'm thinking along the lines of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9. Earth would have been extinct. Thanks Jupiter. :)
One day earth will get pounded by an asteroid/comet. The universe is so big with rocks/comets in/out of orbit. we can't deflect all of them.

Yes.Thanks Jupiter.
Getting technology to deflect any asteroids/comets will take many years.
There is no corporation that are willing to invest in such a program.
So it's left to governments to do it...

That is rather a silly statement. Corporations don't run this planet, Governments do. Despite what the activists would have the gullible believe.

What do you mean?
Corporations are running this planet!

Careful, this conversation is drifting over into politics.

---

Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

Tomorrow, Friday, is Asteroid day at NASA with a TV broadcast about what NASA is doing to watch for dangerous objects.
Tullio

---

Asteroid Day schedule.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gWnLO0NwYrZ-XDWJsaMPzLRafm1oAfW3x7hOEFSWA_4/edit#gid=0
Starting in 5 hours.
https://asteroidday.org/live/

I watched the NASA channel programming today at noon EDT. Interesting stuff but nothing I haven't seen or heard before.

---

Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

A Double Asteroid Redirection Test is planned by NASA for 2022 on the double asteroid Didymos. But it is not yet included in the 2018 budget.
Tullio

---

Check this comet out.


New Comet: C/2017 O1 ASAS-SN Takes Earth by Surprise

A new comet discovery crept up on us this past weekend, one that should be visible for northern hemisphere observers soon.

We’re talking about Comet C/2017 O1 ASAS-SN, a long period comet currently visiting the inner solar system. When it was discovered on July 19th, 2017 by the All Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN) system, Comet O1 ASAS-SN was at a faint magnitude +15.3 in the constellation Cetus. In just a few short days, however, the comet jumped up a hundred-fold in brightness to magnitude +10, and should be in range of binoculars now. Hopes are up that the comet will top out around magnitude +8 or so in October, as it transitions from the southern to northern hemisphere.

---

On October 12 asteroid 2012 TC4 will pass at 6800 km from Earth, according to NASA calculations. It will be observed by a number of telescopes. Its size is calculated between 10 and 30 meters.
Tullio

---

Asteroid 2012 TC4 may be slightly larger than the space rock that hit Earth's atmosphere near Chelyabinsk, Russia, in February 2013.
No biggie so to speak.
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6906/

There is a lot more space than asteroids. In theory one day, one will hit us, statistically it has to happen. What will be the outcome no-one can say.

Yupper, it has happened. Consider the 67 million year old Dinosaur ending asteroid that hit us in modern day Yucatan.

Tom

---

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association).