We're not doomed but...
- Thread starter DanielMMS
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You have a Premature ejaculation problem...
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Even a small asteroid has a lot of potential energy - all depends on surviving entry through the atmosphere, its mass, speed and angle. What about an airburst (e.g. Tunguska?). Not worried considering how big it is out there...
Anyway the experts may not detect another one nearby which then collides with BX34 and knocks it off its projected course and hits Earth...more chance of winning a lottery syndicate with Houdini and then get killed by a lightning strike while collecting the winnings riding Shergar.
Space is big - the odds are astronomical (groan)
Anyway the experts may not detect another one nearby which then collides with BX34 and knocks it off its projected course and hits Earth...more chance of winning a lottery syndicate with Houdini and then get killed by a lightning strike while collecting the winnings riding Shergar.
Space is big - the odds are astronomical (groan)
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Soldato
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11m? i'd be worried if it was 11km, but not 11m. needs to be a good few hundred metres before any large scale damage would be done
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Tunguska event
The explosion is believed to have been caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment at an altitude of 5–10 kilometres (3–6 mi) above the Earth's surface. Different studies have yielded varying estimates of the object's size, with general agreement that it was a few tens of metres across.
Although the meteoroid or comet burst in the air rather than hitting the surface, this event is still referred to as an impact. Estimates of the energy of the blast range from 5 to as high as 30 megatons of TNT (21–130 PJ),[6][7] with 10–15 megatons of TNT (42–63 PJ) the most likely[7]—roughly equal to the United States' Castle Bravo thermonuclear bomb tested on March 1, 1954, about 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, and about one-third the power of the Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated.[8] The explosion knocked over an estimated 80 million trees covering 2,150 square kilometres (830 sq mi). It is estimated that the shock wave from the blast would have measured 5.0 on the Richter scale. An explosion of this magnitude is capable of destroying a large metropolitan area.[9] This possibility has helped to spark discussion of asteroid deflection strategies.
The explosion is believed to have been caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment at an altitude of 5–10 kilometres (3–6 mi) above the Earth's surface. Different studies have yielded varying estimates of the object's size, with general agreement that it was a few tens of metres across.
Although the meteoroid or comet burst in the air rather than hitting the surface, this event is still referred to as an impact. Estimates of the energy of the blast range from 5 to as high as 30 megatons of TNT (21–130 PJ),[6][7] with 10–15 megatons of TNT (42–63 PJ) the most likely[7]—roughly equal to the United States' Castle Bravo thermonuclear bomb tested on March 1, 1954, about 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, and about one-third the power of the Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated.[8] The explosion knocked over an estimated 80 million trees covering 2,150 square kilometres (830 sq mi). It is estimated that the shock wave from the blast would have measured 5.0 on the Richter scale. An explosion of this magnitude is capable of destroying a large metropolitan area.[9] This possibility has helped to spark discussion of asteroid deflection strategies.
10m diameter depending on composition could still wipe-out most of central London as an example.
The size of the meteor is not important, the compositions and angles combined with the potential energy of travelling at fractions of the speed of light make it very damaging.
The size of the meteor is not important, the compositions and angles combined with the potential energy of travelling at fractions of the speed of light make it very damaging.