Ron 10
Yeah, c'mon you guys. Haven't you ever played Asteroids?QuoteMaybe, but Tempel 1 is thought to be around 6km across with a mass of around a Billion tonnes. Break it into a thousand pieces and thats still a million tonnes each.
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It's still a step forward. Letting the atmosphere work on 1000 spheroids instead of one big one significantly decreasing the kinetic energy that impacts. Less mass at a lower velocity.
And who says we only get to fire one shot?
Speed Racer
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You know, Paul, even though I know the risks of this are even smaller, what would happen on earth if, for example, this comet hit the moon?
It seems like there would be a bunch of problems:
1) Ejecta impacting the earth creating a freaking amazing light show and probable damage to a number of places;
2) Global cooling (I wonder if the ejecta cloud will block some of the sun's rays in space, and not just in th atmosphere;
3) Change in tides - wouldn't the tides be changed due to a difference in mass? Isn't there a chance that the moon's orbit would be skewed somewhat?
My wife is hotter than your wife.
It seems like there would be a bunch of problems:
1) Ejecta impacting the earth creating a freaking amazing light show and probable damage to a number of places;
2) Global cooling (I wonder if the ejecta cloud will block some of the sun's rays in space, and not just in th atmosphere;
3) Change in tides - wouldn't the tides be changed due to a difference in mass? Isn't there a chance that the moon's orbit would be skewed somewhat?
My wife is hotter than your wife.
mnealtx 0
Quote5.7 earth diameters away huh . . . um, that's pretty freekin' close. That's almost exactly the distance communication satellites are stationed at
Not quite... geosync satellites are at 22k miles... 6 diameters would be about 45k miles...but still too damned close of a call!!
Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706
quade 4
You are correct, I meant to say radius, but mistakenly said diameter.
The asteroid -will- get INSIDE of geosynchonous communications satellites which at are about 22,300 miles.
The asteroid -will- get INSIDE of geosynchonous communications satellites which at are about 22,300 miles.
quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver
The World's Most Boring Skydiver
quade 4
Quote
You know, Paul, even though I know the risks of this are even smaller, what would happen on earth if, for example, this comet hit the moon?
I always wanted to live on a ringed planet. ;^)
If I could, I'd move to the crater on Mimas. Can you possibly imagine the views? A four mile tall peak in the middle of a huge crater with Saturn taking up over 1/4 of the sky and its rings stretching from horizon to horizon.
Anyway, I digress.
Hard to really know what would happen if it hit our Moon. Could be insignificant, could be rather significant for some of the reasons you've mentioned and maybe more.
quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver
The World's Most Boring Skydiver
1) yeah, we'd have at least a great looking moon for weeks, with the weak gravity it's possible some bits would make it to our side, could make some holes on the ground.
2) I don't think it would last very long, and odds are against impact happening close to a new moon (earth in the way). With the rotation, worst case could be a few hours solar eclipse every 29 days. It would have to considerably increase the effective surface area from our POV to do this.
3) Moon is 2160 miles in diameter. Comets are typically smaller than 6 miles. Hale-Bopp was 24 miles. Tempel 1 is only 4.2 miles if it were a round sphere. That's like a bug hitting the windshield - it's not going to change the moon much. Tides vary more from the variance in the orbit - apogee is 11% further than perigee.
2) I don't think it would last very long, and odds are against impact happening close to a new moon (earth in the way). With the rotation, worst case could be a few hours solar eclipse every 29 days. It would have to considerably increase the effective surface area from our POV to do this.
3) Moon is 2160 miles in diameter. Comets are typically smaller than 6 miles. Hale-Bopp was 24 miles. Tempel 1 is only 4.2 miles if it were a round sphere. That's like a bug hitting the windshield - it's not going to change the moon much. Tides vary more from the variance in the orbit - apogee is 11% further than perigee.
quade 4
Quote
3) Moon is 2160 miles in diameter. Comets are typically smaller than 6 miles. Hale-Bopp was 24 miles. Tempel 1 is only 4.2 miles if it were a round sphere. That's like a bug hitting the windshield - it's not going to change the moon much. Tides vary more from the variance in the orbit - apogee is 11% further than perigee.
Again, I gotta go back to Mimas.
Can you imagine the size of the object that hit it and what that must have looked like?
Can you imagine what the creation of the crater Tycho on our Moon must have looked like?
quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver
The World's Most Boring Skydiver
So your saying there is a chance!
OK, what movie did I badly quote from?
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