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 kinhull  Send message Joined: 3 Oct 03 Posts: 1029 Credit: 636,475 RAC: 0 
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An interesting set of videos/pictures. One note: I have a feeling that a flash on the Moon like that occurs oftener than once in 100,000 years. Late 1953 was only 53-1/2 years ago so I have about a 99.95 percent chance of being right. Well I did a bit of web searching and found this: NEA Population and Impact Frequency .... Asteroids larger than 1 kilometer are suspected of hitting Earth every 100,000 to 300,000 years, according to widely accepted estimates based partly on a handful of terrestrial craters. But Earth tends to bury or erode the evidence. So the estimate is based also on craters on the Moon, which do not erode quickly but which provide a glimpse into what likely happens on Earth. A similar source may be where the "every 100,000 years" statistic came from. Join TeamACC Sometimes I think we are alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we are not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. ID: 580890 ·  |
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kinhull Send message Joined: 3 Oct 03 Posts: 1029 Credit: 636,475 RAC: 0
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As a comic aside (obtained from the link provided in the previous message): PARODY: CHANCE OF BEING EATEN BY WILD ANIMALS GREATLY DOWNGRADED From an anonymous British correspondent... Press Release from the Slone Digital Survey, Princesstown University The likelihood of the average American being attacked by a wild animal has been shown to be much less than previously estimated, according to new results from the Slone Digital Survey, operated by Princesstown University astronomers. Records of attack rates compiled by mammal experts had indicated that a large fraction of deaths caused by wild animals in Africa are due to hippopotamus strikes. New observations by the Princesstown researchers, however, show that there are fewer hippopotamuses than earlier counts indicated. Using their new data they have extrapolated the figures to obtain a kill rate for inhabitants of North America. "Although we cannot be sure that our detections were all hippopotamuses - for example some may have been elephants or wildebeest - we are convinced that our figures represent a much-improved evaluation of the numbers of large gray-brown mammals in Africa" said a spokesman for the team, Dr Neophobius Snobbs. He continued: "While some detractors have criticized us for not including smaller beasts like lions and hyenas in our analysis, so far as we are aware these do not pose a danger to humans." The team have also dismissed the arguments of public safety experts who point to grizzly bears as being a significant risk. "I've never seen a grizzly bear in Princesstown," countered another member of the team, "whereas I remember seeing a hippopotamus in Central Park Zoo when I was a kid. And that's only a handful of miles from here." The purpose of the present project was to capitalize on an earlier press release, when much publicity was gained by the team's claim that their detection of a smaller number of main-belt asteroids in the 1-km size range had important implications for the probability of such a projectile hitting the Earth soon. "We were amazed. We never expected the media and the public to be so gullible. Admittedly this is something we know nothing about but, hey, look at all that coverage. So we figured we could pull the same stunt with hippopotamuses". When asked about polar bears, the Dr Snobbs said that, according to their working definition, white animals cannot be dangerous. "To imagine otherwise would be as silly as thinking that a comet could strike the Earth," he said. "Clearly this makes no sense. We deal with white animals all the time ? cats and mice, mostly - and although a cat may scratch you occasionally, they are not life-threatening." When pressed further, he commented that in any case polar bears live only in parts of Canada, not the United States, and Canadians don't count. Still other critics have argued that, even if there are a few hippopotamuses in zoos, the hazard they represent is tiny. "This shows a profound ignorance of recent scientific advances" said Snobbs. "Global warming is an established fact. This means that North America will get hotter, and soon will be like the African savannah lands, and so hippopotamuses will flourish in the Midwest." When asked how they would get there, Dr Snobbs said that the time scale involved was some millions of years, over which hippopotamuses would evolve so as to develop wings, just like pigs have now. Join TeamACC Sometimes I think we are alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we are not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. ID: 580893 · |
Kathy  Send message Joined: 5 Jan 03 Posts: 338 Credit: 27,877,436 RAC: 0 
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A few BBC Radio 4 broadcasts (and pages of links) that some might find interesting (listen via Real Player). Thanks kinhull, I've bookmarked this thread. Anyway, lol, apt parody in the previous post. ID: 581261 · |
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kinhull Send message Joined: 3 Oct 03 Posts: 1029 Credit: 636,475 RAC: 0
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"Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering." - Arthur C Clarke No problem Kathy, I'm always on the lookout for interesting Audio & Video 'infotainment' that is preferably intelligent (where possible). I think it could be partly to do with the the fact that I'm too lazy to read too much. Join TeamACC Sometimes I think we are alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we are not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. ID: 581286 · |
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Clyde C. Phillips, III Send message Joined: 2 Aug 00 Posts: 1851 Credit: 5,955,047 RAC: 0
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An interesting set of videos/pictures. One note: I have a feeling that a flash on the Moon like that occurs oftener than once in 100,000 years. Late 1953 was only 53-1/2 years ago so I have about a 99.95 percent chance of being right. Of course a 1-km asteroid hitting the Moon would've caused an infinitely larger flash than the one I saw in the picture. Just remember what happened to Jupiter in 1994. Those pieces were smaller than one kilometer. Had the brightest flash been as bright as Jupiter itself that would mean 121/25 * 4*14 * 10 = 2710 times as bright as the full Moon or about magnitude -21 if a one-km object hit the Moon. Rationale: Jupiter receives about 121/25 as much sunlight at Earth. My guess is that Jupiter's albedo (percent reflectivity) is four times that of the Moon. The Earth is about 14 times as big in area as the Moon. I assumed that the biggest object had 1/10 the volume of a 1-km object. Of course hitting gas and hitting rock are two different animals. ID: 581332 · |
Misfit  Send message Joined: 21 Jun 01 Posts: 21804 Credit: 2,815,091 RAC: 0
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Do you remember the Mechanical Universe on PBS? Register and stream all the episodes to your computer with VoD! me@rescam.org ID: 600716 · |
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kinhull Send message Joined: 3 Oct 03 Posts: 1029 Credit: 636,475 RAC: 0
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Just a little BUMP whilst I still have intermittent net access. Join TeamACC Sometimes I think we are alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we are not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. ID: 621949 · |
MrGray  Send message Joined: 17 Aug 05 Posts: 3170 Credit: 60,411 RAC: 0
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Thanks for the bump, I completely forgot about the cool links in here! "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." - Dr. Seuss ID: 622564 · |
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kinhull Send message Joined: 3 Oct 03 Posts: 1029 Credit: 636,475 RAC: 0
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...Are We Alone? The SETI Institute's Weekly Science Program. Updated URLs: Are We Alone? The SETI Institute's Weekly Science Program SETI Institute Show Archives And thanks MrGray. Join TeamACC Sometimes I think we are alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we are not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. ID: 624478 · |
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kinhull Send message Joined: 3 Oct 03 Posts: 1029 Credit: 636,475 RAC: 0
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Here are a couple of links: Science Live Waves Of The Future Join TeamACC Sometimes I think we are alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we are not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. ID: 626050 · |
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kinhull Send message Joined: 3 Oct 03 Posts: 1029 Credit: 636,475 RAC: 0
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Science Live Check out the Science Live Video Wall, essentially the video archive Join TeamACC Sometimes I think we are alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we are not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. ID: 626239 · |
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