NASA says comet fragments won't hit Earth

[IDemo]

Space agency tries to quash rumors of killer tsunamis, mass extinctions

By Tariq Malik
Updated: 7:36 p.m. ET April 27, 2006

Chunks of a comet currently splitting into pieces in the night sky will not strike the Earth next month, nor will it spawn killer tsunamis and mass extinctions, NASA officials said Thursday.

The announcement, NASA hopes, will squash rumors that a fragment of the crumbling Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 (SW 3) will slam into Earth just before Memorial Day.

“There are some Internet stories going around that there’s going to be an impact on May 25,” NASA spokesperson Grey Hautaluoma, told SPACE.com. “We just want to get the facts out.”

Astronomers have been observing 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, a comet that circles the Sun every 5.4 years, for more than 75 years and are confident that any of the icy object’s fragments will remain at least a distant 5.5 million miles (8.8 million kilometers) from Earth — more than 20 times the distance to the moon —at closest approach between May 12 and May 28.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12521174/

[Beelzebud]

1. I suppose all the pseudo-scientists from the Hoagland Academy of Science

think this is Planet X come to deliver the Anunaki to us for the rapture. :D

[magellan]

3. Zeta-talk too

Used to read that for fun.

Planet X -- now there's a good place to send the Repugs and their dear friends from al Qaeda. If it gets close enough maybe we can kick them all there.

[Beelzebud]

4. lol

[Cronus Protagonist]

24. This is proof of a supreme being - He saved us from the rock!

Hallelujia!!



Educate A Freeper - Flaunt Your Opinions!
http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

[uppityperson]

2. Here's another link, just got a notice from spaceweather

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/24mar_73p.htm

March 24, 2006: In 1995, Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 did something unexpected: it fell apart. For no apparent reason, the comet's nucleus split into at least three "mini-comets" flying single file through space. Astronomers watched with interest, but the view was blurry even through large telescopes. "73P" was a hundred and fifty million miles away.
see caption

We're about to get a much closer look. In May 2006 the fragments are going to fly past Earth closer than any comet has come in more than twenty years....(more@link)

On the other hand, if I get killed by a comet before we get rid of Mr.bush, I'm going to be mad.

[DELUSIONAL]

5. Are these real scientists or "faith based" scientists??

After the FDA came out with their pronouncement against marijuana -- and the US scientists muzzled regarding global warming .... and the other "scientific" fiasco of the bush administration -- I now want more information on the "scientists" and exactly what they are basing their judgment on (other than job security if they tow the bushie party line).

[screenplaya]

15. yup

The Bushes would lie to us about it anyway.

[Taxloss]

6. It's been a good month for reassuring news from astronomers

what with the "gamma ray bursts probably won't destroy Earth" story a couple of weeks ago.

That said, I think that being killed in a mass-extinction firestorm of earthquakes and mega-tsunamis is strangely more dignified than having a heart attack and dropping dead in the Home Office section of Ikea, aged 63.

[ReadTomPaine]

21. Sparks an interesting idea - choice of apocalypse..

Nuclear annihilation.. old fashion cold war style, natural catastrophe from space, natural catastrophe from earth.. etc. Morbid thought! :)

[benburch]

7. I hate freaks who "channel" shit like this.

I regret even being a member of the same species.

[file83]

16. What is even funnier is that the "channel" was from a dream.

A dream. Uh....yeah.

[NecessaryOnslaught]

8. NASA would have you believe...

they have the ability to track ALL the fragments. Or the fragments of the fragments..
:hide:

[Democrats_win]

9. Recall comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 hitting Jupiter in 1994?

On 1994 July 16-22, over twenty fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with the planet Jupiter. The comet, discovered the previous year by astronomers Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker and David Levy, was observed by astronomers at hundreds of observatories around the world as it crashed into Jupiter's southern hemisphere.

http://www.seds.org/sl9/sl9.html

This experience from 1994 gives me confidence that the scientists know what they're talking about since they've actually seen it happen!

[pinto]

10. Sounds like it may be an impressive, and distant, sky show...

I'm looking forward to it.

[bluerum]

11. Please God, if you are out there - put one right between *'s eyes. nt

[file83]

14. Like a 'smart comet' ? n/t

In this case I guess, it'd be a "really really smart comet".

[GoddessOfGuinness]

20. Maybe it'll dislodge the one he's already got in his ass.

[Gman]

12. I think I'll send this out as a preemptive strike against nuisance emails

that claims this comet's pieces will hit the earth. Maybe that'll save me a Snopes search before I hit reply all and send everyone on the list the link.

[Xipe Totec]

13. I'm going into deep meditation to steer the comet...

I'm aiming to hit every crop circle on earth.

:evilgrin:

[TreasonousBastard]

17. And if it was gonna hit, you...

think they'd tell us and watch the panic in the streets?

I dunno whether this thing is gonna hit us or not, but I'm assuming NASA is on target here-- they're pretty good at that sort of thing and past predictions of "near misses" have been right on.

But, I'm digging out my old copy of "Lucifer's Hammer" by Pournelle and Nivens. It's one of my favorite doomsday books about three pieces of a comet hitting the planet, and what happens next. Fun reading.

[Oak2004]

22. Yes, they would

because orbital mechanics is not a secret. Keeping the path of an asteroid or comet secret would be like trying to keep the time of sunrise secret. There are far too many people around the world with the ability to calculate orbits. It's something any grad student in an appropriate science or engineering field should be able to do, and I've known a few undergrads who could do it, too.

So if there was an imminent strike, we'd all know about it, probably within hours after astronomers were certain of their calculations.

[TreasonousBastard]

29. Point taken, just...

the question of who is doing the observing of the pieces and making the calculations. Amateur astronomers calculate double star rotations, find comets, and do all sorts of stuff the pros don't have time for, and no doubt could calculate trajectories if they had the right equipment for observation.

But who would you believe-- NASA or three guys on a hill in Pennsylvania? NASA and a few observatories and authorities around the world just have to say those guys are wrong.

Ultimately, it makes no difference because there's not a damn thing we can do to prepare for it if it were to happen.

[AlienGirl]

28. That's a fun book!

I love disaster/doomsday/dystopian fiction, and that is one of my favorites! JagerLizard let me borrow it while he borrowed my copy of "The Coming Global Superstorm." Good times.

Tucker

[Solon]

18. Don't worry guys, it will be far away...

Though if a cloud of debris is surrounding these comet fragments, then that would kick ass, shooting stars for everyone!!!!

[onehandle]

19. However, airborne debris will block the sun making Conservatives extinct.

Proving that all dinosaurs will get theirs in the end.

[shadowknows69]

23. I'm still throwing a doomsday party that night

just in case. fuck it worst that can happen is we'll only have a party. :hippie:

[sofa king]

25. "Let's burn down the observatory so this will never happen again."

--Moe, The Simpsons

[shadowknows69]

26. Excellent episode.

Glad you reminded me. It will be required viewing on the 25th of may. Along with "When Worlds Collide", "Meteor", "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact" (Robert Duvall kicks Bruce Willis' ass any day)

[shadowknows69]

27. Like someone would tell us if it was going to hit

"attention people of earth. This is your government. You have 30 days until the end of the world. Please try to keep civilization together ok?"

[FlaGranny]

31. You could have a whole lot of

fun with 30 days notice and go out with a bang and no need to worry about paying for it afterwards. Of course, there are always people who would ruin it for the rest by creating mahem.

[Vinca]

30. Well, that's a disappointment.

I was hoping to find a chunk of the thing, sell it on ebay and make a killing.:cry:

[Ian David]

32. If a comet hits the Earth, the government will respond within 3 days

If a woman in a coma who wanted to die is being dragged through the courts by her crazy fundamentalist parents, Bush will come out on the front porch in his pajamas immediately.

[pitohui]

33. why would they say anything else?

there is no downside to saying the comet won't destroy the earth, if they are wrong, nobody is going to be here to say i told you so

i don't feel threatened by this comet but nor do i think there is any logic to such reassurances since no sensible gov't agency would announce the end of the world even if they had date and time stamped and sealed by the Great Noodly One Himself