* My comments in red between stars *


The infamous Tunguska explosion, which mysteriously leveled an area of Siberian forest nearly the size of Tokyo a century ago, might have been caused by an impacting asteroid far smaller than previously thought.

The fact that a relatively small asteroid could still cause such a massive explosion suggests "we should be making more efforts at detecting the smaller ones than we have till now," said researcher Mark Boslough, a physicist at Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, N.M.

The explosion near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River on June 30, 1908, flattened some 500,000 acres (2,000 square kilometers) of Siberian forest. Scientists calculated the Tunguska explosion could have been roughly as strong as 10 to 20 megatons of TNT — 1,000 times more powerful than the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Wild theories have been bandied about for a century regarding what caused the Tunguska explosion, including a UFO crash, antimatter, a black hole and famed inventor Nikola Tesla's "death ray." In the last decade, researchers have conjectured the event was triggered by an asteroid exploding in Earth's atmosphere that was roughly 100 feet wide (30 meters) and 560,000 metric tons in mass — more than 10 times that of the Titanic.

The space rock is thought to have blown up above the surface, only fragments possibly striking the ground.

Now new supercomputer simulations suggest "the asteroid that caused the extensive damage was much smaller than we had thought," Boslough said. Specifically, he and his colleagues say it would have been a factor of three or four smaller in mass and perhaps 65 feet (20 meters) in diameter.

The simulations run on Sandia's Red Storm supercomputer — the third fastest in the world — detail how an asteroid that explodes as it runs into Earth's atmosphere will generate a supersonic jet of expanding superheated gas. This fireball would have caused blast waves that were stronger at the surface than previously thought.

* Very interesting no ? *

At the same time, previous estimates seem to have overstated the devastation the event caused. The forest back then was not healthy, according to foresters, "and it doesn't take as much energy to blow down a diseased tree than a healthy tree," Boslough said. In addition, the winds from the explosion would naturally get amplified above ridgelines, making the explosion seem more powerful than it actually was. What scientists had thought to be an explosion between 10 and 20 megatons was more likely only three to five megatons, he explained.

All in all, the researchers suggest that smaller asteroids may pose a greater danger than previously believed. Moreover, "there are a lot more objects that size," Boslough told SPACE.com.

* Maybe we would be better off worrying about THIS rather than Al Bores man caused "global warming" theory. Maybe we would be better off worrying about THIS rather than worrying about how liberals will kill America. Liberals are retarded. They're a danger to themselves ONLY.

Lets get our priorities in order ? *

NASA Ames Research Center planetary scientist and astrobiologist David Morrison, who did not participate in this study, said, "If he's right, we can expect more Tunguska-sized explosions — perhaps every couple of centuries instead of every millennia or two." He added, "It raises the bar in the long term — ultimately, we'd like to have a survey system that can detect things this small."

* It may be in our best interests to get a survey system in place that can detect things this small.

What do you think ? Worry and fret over a theory about the environment made by a politician, or put in place a system to detect and maybe even remove, coming "space bombs" ? *

Boslough and his colleagues detailed their findings at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco on Dec. 11. A paper on the phenomenon has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Impact Engineering.

Small asteroids pose big new threat - Space.com - MSNBC.com

Got this story from here:


MSN Extra Offbeat

The chance that these types of asteroids will hit earth on anywhere near a frequent basis is quite low. The chance of these hitting land is also quite low. The chance of one of these hitting land in an area that is even remotely populated is even lower.

In other words, these small asteroids being a threat to mankind is ridiculous.

How many terrible asteroid disasters has man had to endure since the dawn of civilization? Pretty much none.

Says the man who starts 8 zillion threads on how homosexuality will be the downfall of us all....

__________________
"Anyone that needs what they want, and doesn’t want what they need
I want nothing to do with
And to do what I want
And to do what I please
Is first on my to-do list"
-Gnarls Barkley, "Going On" lyrics

Oh no! Another 'the sky is falling thread'!!!
Honestly though, I don't worry about that of which I have no control...que sera, sera!

__________________


"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride!"

I get it. Cute.

__________________
"Anyone that needs what they want, and doesn’t want what they need
I want nothing to do with
And to do what I want
And to do what I please
Is first on my to-do list"
-Gnarls Barkley, "Going On" lyrics

About the article? Interesting study in computer simulation.

About the commentary? Interesting study in baiting and trolling. Almost like a simulation in itself.

I see. Since the "chance is low" that one will hit any time soon, we shouldn't watch for and prepare for one.

If one DOES, we can always just say "Hindsight is always 20/20. Gosh if we'd have just taken a few easy steps."

I don't recall anywhere that it said they would be a "threat to mankind."

They are there. They probably won't stop hitting occasionally just because we wish they wouldn't or choose to ignore them.

"Hindsight is always 20/20."

An asteroid that's likely as big as several football fields will fly past Earth next week.

"This will be the closest approach by a known asteroid of this size or larger until 2027," said Don Yeomans, manager of the Near Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

However, that doesn't mean we won't hear about another flyby of this nature before then.

With relatively small space rocks, like this one, astronomers sometimes don't know they're passing through until right before they do.

There is no danger of the asteroid striking Earth in the foreseeable future, the scientists said.

But if an asteroid with this size were to hit Earth, the results could be regionally devastating. The impact itself would release about 1,500 megatons of energy, creating a crater about three miles (nearly five kilometers) wide and kicking up loads of debris, according to Yeomans.

"If it hit in the ocean, which is more likely because two-thirds of the Earth is ocean, it would create a tsunami, which would be devastating for the coastlines that happen to be nearby," Yeomans told SPACE.com. "It would be a huge local problem and the tsunami would be extraordinary if it hit in the ocean."

Given the estimated number of near-Earth asteroids of this size (about 7,000 discovered and undiscovered objects), astronomers would expect an object of this size to pass this close to Earth every five years or so on average.

About every 37,000 years on average, an object this size would be expected to actually impact Earth.

FOXNews.com - Asteroid to Make Near Miss of Earth Next Week - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News

* ...every 37,000 years on average.

That's on average. They probably don't follow some "asteroid to Earth" schedule LOL

I'm not sure if we're due for another or not :-) Would it not make sense for us to prepare some kind of measures to redirect or divert one ?

Or should we just continue hoping that one's not coming ? When one DOES, then what ?

Do deep knee bends and beg God to move it ? When we have the know how and knowledge to do it ourselves ?

Do we think God WOULD move it or redirect it for us, when we have the know how and knowledge to do it ourselves ? *

A lot of people that don't believe global warming is a threat won't believe in the possibility that the simulations and predictions involved here are credible either.

And people that may be inclined to believe that humans are incapable of altering the climate could as easily decide we are incapable of dealing with the threat from a large meteor either.

Then again, perhaps an ex-Vice President will make a movie about this threat from the skies and bring it to the forefront of our national attention so that we could debate the evil machinations and deceptions of the scientific establishment.

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