CBS 60 minutes report of Cosmic Roulette... Meteors; what we know and what we don't ! Video

I hate commercials and I apologize because the video has one at the beginning.

Blinking is still used to detect the near earth objects (NEOs) that we have been able to detect. Pretty good video of the last one that blew up over Russia and people getting knocked off their feet and hurt with flying debris.
Objects over 1/2 mile wide astronomers now claim they have found approximately 95% ...Margin of error?

However there are 10,000 lesser objects we also know about.. It is pointed out in this video that the 10,000 they claim to know about in reality is about 1/2 of one percent guesstimated; in other words over one million are actually NEOs. Some pretty good graphics of the solar system so the video is worth a look IMO. Surprised we are not hit more often; just goes to show space, the final frontier is big with allot of space err room.....

With all the spectacular meteors we have had this year and the ATS threads about the events there might be some who are interested and enjoy the vid.

www.cbsnews.com...

reply to post by 727Sky


"The first NASA heard about is was.. Twitter?"

Thats a disturbing but funny statement

reply to post by 727Sky


was it just me or did the one guy on the left act like he was holding back on something. like he knew more than he was saying.
and did he seem to be deflecting cooper some?

Anyone get the weird feeling that this was the first time that Anderson Cooper had heard of any of this?
But the one glaring thing they never talk about is, even if they could tell you 3 weeks in advance of an
impact, would they? Just like that snippet of that hearing they showed, the guy never said tell the people to get out of town if they knew an asteroid was going to hit New York in 3 weeks.

On being able to locate all these small object (some smaller than a small house), imagine this:

I've just put you out in the middle of a huge dried up salt flat lake out in the western part of the US.

I give you a pair of binoculars.

Now, up to 1 mile away or more, I'm going to take a thousand pennies, along with a few hundred golf balls, and some baseballs, and spread them out......let's say you are facing north......I'm going to spread them out from the east to 180 degrees out to the west, all 1 mile away or more.......

Now find them. All of them, using those binoculars I gave you.

Worse, I'm going to make sure they are all light colored like the salt flat (just like darker colored asteroids and the blackness of space......that do not reflect light very well.

And I'm going to make them move around. They may move towards you......away from you.....or different directions all together.

At certain times, I'm going to have a blinding light shinning directly at you (the sun).

Getting the idea of how hard it is to locate all these objects now?

Let's make it even MORE real. Let us put all these small object in a 360 degree sphere around you 1 mile out and further............you have a LOT more sky to be looking at now. Above you, below you, away from you......

Now let's be smart about it and start taking pictures of the sky, and then do the same some hours (or days) later, so we can compare the pictures and see if anything is moving (IE the "Blink" method).

Ah, but did I tell you how much area of the sky that just 2 of those pictures are going to be covering? It will be fractions of a degree......and you have how many degrees of sky to cover? How many hours of night to take as many pictures as you can (and remember......you have to take pictures of the exact same area again either hours or days later to capture this movement).

Now you're going to need people and computers to analyze all those pictures.....then if you DO find something in those pictures......You're going to have to go back and look again, and see if you can spot your object, yet again.....and yes....take even more pictures.

Why? Why so you can calculate it's orbit. THEN you'll know if it might be a possible threat to our planet.

Can anyone see what an overwhelming task this is? It's why amature astronomers are so important. You have a LOT of people looking up in the sky, than just one government run space agency, or a handful of universities.

BUT......not all those amatures have as much powerful equipment to see a asteroid only 10 feet in diameter located 50 million miles away.

It's really amusing to see how many people seem to expect NASA to be able to see all of the sky at once, and be able to track everything, so small, and so far away all at once.......

reply to post by eriktheawful

On being able to locate all these small object (some smaller than a small house), imagine this:

Or larger, say a 1/4 mile; which IMO is still a biggie... Good news is the new telescope (unfunded) mentioned in the video and the plans for IR telescopes seems to be a little more progress from a detection part of the problem. Thanks one and all for the replies... Anyone seen our blue Cheesy member ?

eriktheawful
On being able to locate all these small object (some smaller than a small house), imagine this:

I've just put you out in the middle of a huge dried up salt flat lake out in the western part of the US.

I give you a pair of binoculars.

Now, up to 1 mile away or more, I'm going to take a thousand pennies, along with a few hundred golf balls, and some baseballs, and spread them out......let's say you are facing north......I'm going to spread them out from the east to 180 degrees out to the west, all 1 mile away or more.......

Now find them. All of them, using those binoculars I gave you.

Worse, I'm going to make sure they are all light colored like the salt flat (just like darker colored asteroids and the blackness of space......that do not reflect light very well.

And I'm going to make them move around. They may move towards you......away from you.....or different directions all together.

At certain times, I'm going to have a blinding light shinning directly at you (the sun).

Getting the idea of how hard it is to locate all these objects now?

Let's make it even MORE real. Let us put all these small object in a 360 degree sphere around you 1 mile out and further............you have a LOT more sky to be looking at now. Above you, below you, away from you......

Now let's be smart about it and start taking pictures of the sky, and then do the same some hours (or days) later, so we can compare the pictures and see if anything is moving (IE the "Blink" method).

Ah, but did I tell you how much area of the sky that just 2 of those pictures are going to be covering? It will be fractions of a degree......and you have how many degrees of sky to cover? How many hours of night to take as many pictures as you can (and remember......you have to take pictures of the exact same area again either hours or days later to capture this movement).

Now you're going to need people and computers to analyze all those pictures.....then if you DO find something in those pictures......You're going to have to go back and look again, and see if you can spot your object, yet again.....and yes....take even more pictures.

Why? Why so you can calculate it's orbit. THEN you'll know if it might be a possible threat to our planet.

Can anyone see what an overwhelming task this is? It's why amature astronomers are so important. You have a LOT of people looking up in the sky, than just one government run space agency, or a handful of universities.

BUT......not all those amatures have as much powerful equipment to see a asteroid only 10 feet in diameter located 50 million miles away.

It's really amusing to see how many people seem to expect NASA to be able to see all of the sky at once, and be able to track everything, so small, and so far away all at once.......

There you have it.
Facts,
Scary facts,

We (humanity) are existing and living on a celestial dartboard.
And there is bugger all we can do about it - yet.

Werner Von Braun said...

First Communism, then Terrorism, then Rogue States, then Asteroids, then Aliens.


Interesting.

SadistNocturne


Werner Von Braun said...

First Communism, then Terrorism, then Rogue States, then Asteroids, then Aliens.


Interesting.

I am so old I actually remember him being interviewed.... I would favor skipping the asteroids and meteors and go straight for the Aliens... anything is better than the government these days.... err unless they are like the movie "Alien" with miss S. Weaver. In that case maybe a few meteors would be better. Options , dilemma, and drama, drama, drama, not easy being human...

reply to post by HumansEh

There you have it.
Facts,
Scary facts,

We (humanity) are existing and living on a celestial dartboard.
And there is bugger all we can do about it - yet.

When they brought up the computer graphic of the solar system it really did show the point you make about being in a celestial dartboard.

reply to post by 727Sky


WOW Sory sir I i dont know about this before..Thats Great! please tell me what else! Tq Mr.727Sky! love you!

cheesy
reply to post by 727Sky

 

WOW Sory sir I i dont know about this before..Thats Great! please tell me what else! Tq Mr.727Sky! love you!

Hey Cheesy glad you saw the thread!! But in less you are some hot Indonesian Chick please don't talk about loving me in front of the Klingons err members. A hand shake will suffice.... hahahahah

727Sky

cheesy
reply to post by 727Sky

 

WOW Sory sir I i dont know about this before..Thats Great! please tell me what else! Tq Mr.727Sky! love you!

Hey Cheesy glad you saw the thread!! But in less you are some hot Indonesian Chick please don't talk about loving me in front of the Klingons err members. A hand shake will suffice.... hahahahah

edit on 10-10-2013 by 727Sky because: ..

No! Thats my expression of Fans! i like you thread..love not mean to love to making love..
hehe just like the way you post and coment sir!

SadistNocturne


Werner Von Braun said...

First Communism, then Terrorism, then Rogue States, then Asteroids, then Aliens.


Interesting.

Actually, Carol Rosin said that he said that. Something like that: Russia, terrorism, asteroids, aliens.

reply to post by Phage


Stephen Hawking also said They would drop Rocks before Attack!!

Deep Impact - Presidents announcement

Deep Impact
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u4vZdFtnBM
www.youtube.com...

Wow..... I click on the video link and paused it to go outside to have a coffee.
Just then, I see a bright light shooting across the sky like a fast jet and then it breaks up in a spectacular fashion, and continues over the horizon....... awesome!

I sure love synchronicity

reply to post by 727Sky


Hi Sir maybe this link can help you update NEO..
List Of The Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs)
www.minorplanetcenter.org...

eriktheawful -

It's really amusing to see how many people seem to expect NASA to be able to see all of the sky at once, and be able to track everything, so small, and so far away all at once...

But they have enough computing power to check on what we are doing and more, and I would say that the liklihood of something bad happening could possibly be about the same probability.

It is all about where do you as government choose to place your resources. Spying on people or spying on the universe.

If what the Disclosure Project members said in 2001, we have awesome technology anyway so it probably is not such a big deal really. It is just that it is not sexy enough to attract the money in spite of the warnings etc that we need to get off our backside and start to develop stuff. Which as we have just said, is another reference to the perceived threats coming at us.

www.nytimes.com...
More Asteroid Strikes Are Likely, Scientists Say:

When an asteroid exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February, shattering windows for miles and injuring well over 1,000 people, experts said it was a rare event — of a magnitude that might occur only once every 100 to 200 years, on average. But now a team of scientists is suggesting that the Earth is vulnerable to many more Chelyabinsk-size space rocks than was previously thought. In research being published Wednesday by the journal Nature, they estimate that such strikes could occur as often as every decade or two.

Hopefully the U.N. will actually help fund and kick start something that would benefit all of mankind..

A United Nations committee has been studying the issue for some time, and next month the General Assembly is expected to adopt two of its recommendations: establishing an International Asteroid Warning Network for countries to share information; and calling on the world’s space agencies to set up an advisory group to explore technologies for deflecting an asteroid.