27-12-2004 18:13									#1
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NASA has just put out it's highest ever asteroid impact alert.

A '4' rating on the 10 point Torino scale, the previous highest alert was a 1. The asteroid is due in April 2029.

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/2004mn4.html

and

http://tinyurl.com/4awkv

	27-12-2004 18:15									#2
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Great! We no longer have to bother about fixing our retirements-system.

	27-12-2004 18:19									#3
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Ah it's not so bad, depending on what the asteroid is, and by the looks of things it's loose rock, it would only destroy a localised area with little global impact (obviously depending on where it hits). Note of course the odds of impact are just 2.7%

	27-12-2004 18:21									#4
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Darn it.

	27-12-2004 18:22									#5
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Thats less than 40-1, not such long odds.

It wouldn't pass a risk assessment (likelyhood multiplied by consequence)

	27-12-2004 18:23									#6
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Very true. Still, as long as it doesn't land on my head, I can't pretend that I really care .

I want it close though, I love a good fireworks display

	27-12-2004 18:26									#7
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*checks his watch*

It's early. Last time I subcontract the Apocalypse.

	27-12-2004 18:28									#8
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Not likely. And they change these numbers anyways as time goes on. It could shift you know... even if it does hit, it isn't like others haven't hit the planet before. Hopefully it will hit Siberia or something.

	27-12-2004 18:31									#9
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Or Hull. Might improve the place.

	27-12-2004 18:51									#10
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quote: Originally posted by Starchild Or Hull. Might improve the place.

if were making wish list, I'll go for Old Trafford (on a match day versus Everton)

	27-12-2004 18:53									#11
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South Central L.A.

	27-12-2004 18:57									#12
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quote: Originally posted by Starchild Or Hull. Might improve the place.

I doubt even a asteroid strike would raise property values in Hull.

Although of course you'll get the estate agents droning on about the crater's potential for use as a swimming pool - or maybe as a water (or even magma) feature.

	27-12-2004 19:31									#13
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2029? I'm good.. I'll be... 49 years old. I might as well go fit and sexy and with all of my hair and I assume I have already done most important things so.... bring it!

	27-12-2004 20:04									#14
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Don't worry Bruce Willis will take care of that asteroid.

	27-12-2004 20:28									#15
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Not if I stab him to death with a cucumber first.

	27-12-2004 20:46									#16
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quote: Originally posted by el freako I doubt even a asteroid strike would raise property values in Hull. Although of course you'll get the estate agents droning on about the crater's potential for use as a swimming pool - or maybe as a water (or even magma) feature.

Not unless the extreme heat/pressure turns the coal in it to diamonds...

That, and a nuclear blast, are one of the few things I really would like to see... From safe distance. Though, after a full life, that'd be THE way to go.

	27-12-2004 20:53									#17
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quote: Originally posted by Last Conformist Not if I stab him to death with a cucumber first.

Make sure the cucumber meets Eu standards

	27-12-2004 20:54									#18
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You mean it has not be non genetically modified?

	27-12-2004 20:58									#19
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No, but if it is modified it should be labeled as such!

	27-12-2004 22:15									#20
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quote: Hopefully it will hit Siberia or something.

That's not really the best place for it to impact.

	27-12-2004 22:25									#21
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2.7% is huge though.
I mean if such an asteroid came by every 5 years or so we would have very high chance of getting one in a liftetime...
Though this one is only in 2029...
so why worry yet

	27-12-2004 23:13									#22
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I have heard that the chances of a cataclysmic asteroid strike in the next century are 1 in 140 or something.

Some have used these chances to make the case for having human settlements on celestial bodies other than Earth -- i.e., making human beings a multi-body species. I am having trouble finding a rebuttal to this case.

	27-12-2004 23:20									#23
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Better yet, send a mission out (mabye robotic) and place a nuclear reactor and base on the asteroid. Start a constrant low-level thrust and capture the damn thing, maybe put it into the L5 point or a nice sorta-stable hyperbolic orbit around the Earth-Moon system. We both remove the threat and make a huge jump in space exploration. I can dream, can't I. (dear, what DID you put in my hot cocoa?)

	27-12-2004 23:29									#24
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SO if this sucker hits us... does it mean new ice age? And if so, what is the damn difference to the situation now? YOu people just need to build a character to take it, to take the shitty weather. It's a great character builder. Oh the sun never rises again? I know what that is. Come on here! I took a snooze today and missed the sun all together today.

Of course it gives you some new edges, or should I say it rather takes the blackndecker and molds it all into one big lump of melancoly, angst, depression, sadness and rage. But you can live with that. It's just a matter of how you adapt. It's like Monty Python. Always look on the bright side of life. The joke is, there is no bright side. 99% of you still haven't realized the real joke in it. And that's why it IS funny

But yeah.. I mean bring it, it's not like anything in here changes. Teaches you happy people how to be depressed damn it and it's my god given right to see you miserable as well!

	27-12-2004 23:31									#25
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quote: HOLLYWOOD predictions of a rogue asteroid colliding with Earth and threatening life as we know it has become a real possibility, according to a new warning from NASA. On Christmas Eve, NASA issued its highest-ever threat warning when it gave asteroid 2004 MN4 a rating of four on the 10-point Torino Scale used to rate intergalactic threats. The highest previous rating was one. The rating for 2004 MN4 means there is a 1.6 per cent chance it and Earth will collide when they crosses paths on April 13, 2029. Astronomy educator Paul Floyd said 2004 MN4 was first discovered in March 2004, but contact was lost until it was rediscovered on December 19. He said it is about 440m in diameter and is larger than many of the asteroids to collide with the Earth in its recent history. He said if it was a stony type like most asteroids, much of it could vapourise in the atmosphere. He said if it was an iron type that remained intact as it passed through the atmosphere, 2004 MN4's size meant it could have an impact equivalent to between 100 to 150 hydrogen bombs. Astronomers need a long time to work out asteroids' risk rating as Earth is a small target.

"Intergalactic" threats? Are we worried about something from M31 coming our way?

	27-12-2004 23:40									#26
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Once you've been into astronomy for a while you develop an inbuilt filter for things like that. The popular press drop a hell of a lot of howlers when reporting astro stories, it's just easier to either just ignore them or make an educated guess as to what they are trying to say.

	27-12-2004 23:40									#27
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quote: Originally posted by chegitz guevara "Intergalactic" threats? Are we worried about something from M31 coming our way?

	27-12-2004 23:43									#28
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Better feel happy that we are the chosen generation to witness and experience this historical moment. If it ever happens, that is.

	28-12-2004 00:10									#29
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Maybe the Apolyton Life Membership fees should be recalculated!

	28-12-2004 07:46									#30
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The newest revised estimate is there's only a 1 in 56,000 chance that 2004 MN4 will hit us, and only in 2037.

So tough, get back to work, all of you.