Found a good "Chicken Little" link? Let Us Know!
Can we
survive the next major impact? We know from fossil records that on a
fairly regular basis, to the order of 26 - 30 million years or so, mass
extinctions occur. Various theories have been proposed to explain this. One
current theory is that every 30 million years the Earth is subject to heavy
bombardment by asteroids, or comets. There is geological evidence of a thin
layer of material at a depth representing an age of 65 million years that
appears to be the result of an enormous asteroid impact. The impact site is
believed to be in the Gulf of Mexico, off Yucatan, and to have caused the
extinction of the dinosaurs, along with 60% of all other species. This crater is
more than 100 miles in diameter.
BBC
NEWS | Science/Nature | Could we survive an asteroid hit?
Researchers at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory
say their web tool will predict the effects different types of impactors
would have if they hit different places on the planet. A relatively modest
sized asteroid of 45m (150ft) in diameter is said to strike the Earth
approximately every 1,000 years.
Earth Impact Effects
Program Website Welcome to the Earth Impact Effects Program: an
easy-to-use, interactive web site for estimating the regional environmental
consequences of an impact on Earth. This program will estimate the ejecta
distribution, ground shaking, atmospheric blast wave, and thermal effects of
an impact as well as the size of the crater produced.
Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy- Misconceptions- Planet X
Doomsayers seem to pop up every few years. Last time, it was the alignment of
the planets that somehow managed not to destroy the Earth in May 2000. Now, we
have Planet X. A few people are claiming that a heretofore unknown planet in our
solar system is on a very long, elliptical orbit.
Circumstances
Beyond Our Control by Rick Donaldson. A pretty neat article on asteroid
impacts.
NEAR-EARTH
ASTEROID TRACKING Get
facts from this observatory in Hawaii, see some of the interesting objects
found, and learn about the equipment used.
Near
Earth Asteroid Rendezvous Mission Find
out about the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid and return data. View a
computer-generated movie, and review the mission's status.
Asteroid
& Comet Impact Hazards Includes
a scientific review of the asteroid and meteor impact movies
"Armageddon" and "Deep Impact," and asks if such scenarios
are realistic.
Near
Earth Objects Dynamic Site NEODyS
provides information and services for all Near Earth Asteroids. Each NEA has its
own dynamically generated home page providing information and services, and a
search facility puts the information in easy reach. Slow Loader, but TONS of
neat stuff!
Exploring
The Planets - Near Earth Asteroids
Near Earth Asteroids What are Near Earth Asteroids? Near Earth asteroids are
asteroids that travel to within 1.3AU (195 million kilometers/121 million miles)
of the Sun.
The
Minor Planet Center (MPC) operates at the
Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory, under the auspices of
Commission
20 of the International
Astronomical Union (IAU) and is a nonprofit organization, with principal
funding coming from subscriptions to the various services offered by the Center.
The MPC is responsible for the efficient collection, (computation,) checking and
dissemination of astrometric observations and orbits for minor planets and
comets, via the
Minor
Planet Circulars (issued monthly) and the
Minor
Planet Electronic Circulars (issued as necessary).The
NEO Page The
NEO Page Collected herein are local links dealing specifically with Near-Earth
Objects (NEOs).
The
CNN Sci-Tech Story Page.
"Comets"
Earth almost put
on impact alert Some scientists believed on 13 January that a 30m
object, later designated 2004 AS1, had a one-in-four chance of hitting the
planet within 36 hours. It could have caused local devastation and the
researchers contemplated a call to President Bush before new data finally
showed there was no danger. The procedures for raising the alarm in such
circumstances are now being revised.
Asteroid Survival - How to Survive A Collision With An Earth ...
On March 23, 1989, an asteroid with a kinetic energy of over 1000
one-megaton hydrogen bombs (i.e., about 5,000 times more powerful than the
bomb dropped on Hiroshima) was recorded to have passed very close to Earth.
Named 1989FC, scientists only discovered the closeness of its pass to the
Earth after the fact, during a calculation of the asteroid's entire orbital
path.
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