`An asteroid will just miss Earth tomorrow. We won't always be so lucky`

On Sunday afternoon — at 2:15 pm Eastern time, to be exact — a small asteroid will whiz by the Earth.
Don't worry: it'll miss us by about 25,000 miles. To be clear, there iszero chance it can hit us. This is certain.

​

But in the long-term, worrying a little about asteroids isn't an unreasonable idea. Now, the odds of a massively destructive asteroid impact at any given time are tiny — but the potential costs would be enormous. Yet we still haven't invested in all the infrastructure needed to spot small asteroids with much warning (we spotted this one less than a week ago). And we've done nothing to develop the ability to divert a larger one if it threatened us.`

More:

http://www.vox.com/2014/9/6/6110441/asteroid-risk-impact

`Interesting read...we need to improve our detection abilities...The earth has been EXTREMELY lucky...so far...​

 

just imagine one hit the middle of the USA or something, they could be a game changer on the evolution of this planet, worse it could be an extinction event that kills off all humans

 

if it was going to hit the Earth, do you think they'd tell you? all it would do is cause panic.

 

the vast majority of the Earth is ocean.

the vast majority of the Earth's land, is uninhabited.

Im not too worried.

 

it wouldn't be the direct effects. it would be the massive wave of sea water or dust cloud.

 

It's The End of the World!! It's the END of the World!!!​

Oh No!! NO!! It Can't Be!! It Just Can't Happen To Us!!​

 

so, should i worry now, or in 5 minutes?

 

14:14 EDT tomorrow.

 

Good points, but at the moment we probably don't have the necessary developed technology to detect objects much small than a shopping mall heading for us. Or if we do then we have not developed the necessary deployment and link up and maintenance systems. All of which is a second burner issue since once detected we still do not have the technology to do anything about any object of significance. As I understand it, merely reducing what can be reduced via nuclear bombs (if one had a means of delivery) would only turn it into the equivalent of massive-sized shotgun pellets that would actually do more harm to the planet.

So, the solution? Work on the above issues while also working to get enough of humanity off the planet so that at least the species can survive a planet wide holocaust. But then again, that's also something that's going to take time.

 

Check! Let's synchronize watches now.

 

i'm setting the alarm on mah phone.

 

The sky is falling, the sky is falling

 

`Oh stop it everybody relax......Article didn't say it was going to hit us...

*Thanks all for participating

 

that's what they want you to think.

 

It wont matter where it hits on earth. An extinsion level asteroid would be better if it vaporized you seconds before impact.

 

The article said this one was about the same size as the one over Russia a while back. It's only a matter of time until we see something more "interesting" but like others noted, the planet is 75% water and much of the land is uninhabited.

We are, however, due for another extinction level event, but the odds are we won't see it in our lifetime.

 

We all gotta die someday.

 

[h=1]`Meteorite Explodes Over Russia` Powerful still...[/h]
[video=youtube;DR49rHKycpE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR49rHKycpE[/video]

 

Humans are like (*)(*)(*)(*) roaches, resilient.

 

The problem is that small asteroids are still capable of knocking out a city, and we have no way of detecting small objects travelling at colossal speeds until it's too late to do anything about it.

- - - Updated - - -

Until the tidal wave hits...

 

That was a meteor; a small rock the size of a pebble. An asteroid just 200ft across could wipe out New York.
A mile in diameter? All life ends on Earth.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/natural-disasters/asteroid-hits-earth.htm
The Tunguska event over Siberia in 1908 was calculated to have been caused by an air-burst comet or asteroid some 200ft across. People were reportedly knocked off their feet, and windows broken, by the explosion hundreds of kilometers distant from the source. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event

 

If the UN wants to be truly relevant they should be leading the way organizing some sort of global response in identifying and eliminating meteors that
represent a threat to earth before they can do extreme damage.

 

The UN doesn't have any teeth which is why it doesn't have much authority. They do have an "Asteroid Defense Plan":

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/un-asteroid-defense-plan/

 

That's what some control freak are going to be saying about us in a few tens of millions of years, 'Damn those things are resilient. You can kill 'em but they keep coming back in a new body.' I dunno, warrior angels may be thinking that already.

OTOH, I don't think an asteroid is 'missing' the planet (or missed as the case may be now) is luck or any similar phenomena. Just happens that it never was gonna hit. Now, someone might want to start some cult about earth people passing gas, or flying 1st class, is changing the track of the planet around the sun and that's what saved our butts from today's asteroid but we gotta stop with the beans or we're gonna run out of luck. Then it might be luck. Then the luck would be better it we could just get the thing to hit the U.N. building instead.

 

For the record, a meteor is an asteroid in the earth's atmosphere, a meteorite is what left after the meteor hits the earth.

We are probably due for another strike, but there isn't too much we can do at the moment.