Why Hasn't An ELE-object Hit Earth Yet And Wiped Us All Out?

originally posted by: AnakinWayneII
Why hasn't a killer asteroid or something smashed into Earth and wiped us all out?

Because Bruce Willis and Ben 'Giant Head' Affleck stopped it.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

The Asteroid wrote a song about it.

"I dont want to miss a thing".

More likely that a rogue Death Star will get us...

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Don't forget the brave Russian cosmonaut. It was probably only because Bruce Willis colluded with the Russians that Giant Asteroid 2016 didn't win the election now that I think about it.

a reply to: Diaspar

Do you ever feel a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced, and fear something terrible has happened?

Me neither.

Well because one hits about every 70 million years, so do you feel lucky today?

One of the main reasons earth has been able to produce advance life is because we have two giant vacuums in space call Saturn and Jupiter. If we didn't have those two planets maybe life would reset much quicker than the 70 million years and so life would just never get a chance to evolve past simpler levels.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Don't forget the brave Russian cosmonaut. It was probably only because Bruce Willis colluded with the Russians that Giant Asteroid 2016 didn't win the election now that I think about it.

Oh look, someone managed to make this about Russian collusion...

originally posted by: Xtrozero
Well because one hits about every 70 million years, so do you feel lucky today?

One of the main reasons earth has been able to produce advance life is because we have two giant vacuums in space call Saturn and Jupiter. If we didn't have those two planets maybe life would reset much quicker than the 70 million years and so life would just never get a chance to evolve past simpler levels.

Sorry, but I can't wait 70 million years.

Forgive me for what is about to occur in August and do not be immediately alarmed when the US goes to DEFCON 1 (be alarmed only after...)

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Giant head meaning cranium, I hope...

originally posted by: AnakinWayneII
Why hasn't a killer asteroid or something smashed into Earth and wiped us all out?

Gravity.

Bigger celestial bodies have bigger gravity than smaller ones, so they are more likely to attract other objects, becoming even bigger. Moving at the same speed as the smaller objects, they are also easier attracted by other, even bigger, celestial objects, so as time goes by the number of "rogue bodies" gets smaller and smaller, so the chances of being hit by one get smaller and smaller too.

originally posted by: StepRightOnTopOfMe
a reply to: Diaspar

Do you ever feel a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced, and fear something terrible has happened?

Me neither.

I never understood that line..I mean the whole planet was instantly vaporized...who had time to scream?

a reply to: AnakinWayneII

We've been lucky so far plus space is big , killer asteroids are still relatively small objects with lots of space to occupy.

The asteroid of a few days ago reminds us we may not have much notice when it comes , governments need to take the problem seriously.

a reply to: AnakinWayneII

Forgive me for what is about to occur in August and do not be immediately alarmed when the US goes to DEFCON 1 (be alarmed only after...)

Okey, I'm game. What is supposed to happen in August? Did I miss something?

originally posted by: Chance321
a reply to: AnakinWayneII

Forgive me for what is about to occur in August and do not be immediately alarmed when the US goes to DEFCON 1 (be alarmed only after...)

Okey, I'm game. What is supposed to happen in August? Did I miss something?

Now that'd be like telling you the ending of a movie, wouldn't it? Enjoy the ride.

a reply to: ArMaP
That is something a lot of people don't understand, and frankly it is hard to wrap your head around in the first place.

Space is so massive, the vast majority of stuff in our solar system has been in our solar system since it existed. Jupiter not only eats a lot of things, it also causes a lot of them as well, and arguably most deviations like asteroids are caused by it. It is just massive enough to be a real trouble maker, but not so massive that it competes with the Sun by just absorbing everything (perhaps assimilating is a better term) that gets within it's range.

a reply to: AnakinWayneII

it,s a matter of time before something big hits us so until then enjoy the light show that comes and go IE shooting stars

a reply to: AnakinWayneII

LOL!!!! Ooookey. If it can hold off till the end of the month I'd appreciate it.

Space is BIG, REALLY BIG. Most of the larger asteroids are in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter. Even there, the average distance between two asteroids is estimated at 600,000 miles. That is a lot of space. None of those in the main belt are of any consequence to us, as they are in stable orbits.

There are two belts of asteroids that are considered "earth crossing", meaning they will cross across earth's orbital path at some point. These are the Aten and Apollo asteroid groups, and the ones that present the most danger.

To pose a true ELE threat, an asteroid would need to be somewhere in the 10 mile across range. Most asteroids in these two groups are smaller than that, with some exceptions.

Since 1998 there has been an ongoing effort to identify large asteroids that pass the earth's orbital path. During the last 20 years 90+% of asteroids larger than 2/3 mile across have been detected and tracked. Nearly 100% of asteroids large enough to cause an ELE have been detected and tracked. Total number is somewhere over 18,000 found. None have any chance of impact within the earth in the foreseeable future.

The ones we should be worried about are asteroids that are a few hundred meters across. Many times they approach the earth from the direction of the sun, making them difficult or impossible to see until they are right up on us. Some have not been seen till just days before they pass close, others have not been detected until AFTER they made a close shave.

Asteroids this size would not be an ELE event, but would make for a bad day if you were within the area of impact or airburst. Yields could be in the tens to hundreds of megaton range. If one were to impact or airburst over a large city, we could see hundreds of thousands of casualties, maybe more.

Unknown comets can also be a hazard, though there are fewer of them. Sometimes they do get bumped from the Ort cloud to make their first pass through the solar system. They may come from any direction. But once again space is BIG.

originally posted by: AnakinWayneII
It's a simple question.

Why hasn't a killer asteroid or something smashed into Earth and wiped us all out?

Did Harry Potter wave his wand or something and say "Avada Kedavra".

It's a simple question. With the amount of rogue bodies whizzing through space in and around our solar system, why haven't we been smashed into smithereens yet?

If you take into consideration the volume of space in the solar system and the size of individual objects, and also look at the plane of our orbit, the plane of most of thse objects you'll see the odds are in our favor. The reason that the planet was "smithereened" so much in the past is that the population of objects was far higher. So in the end, most of the smithereen objects are already gone.

Besides, you did know Star Trek was a documentary, right? Them space force phasers are powerful!

Much of what others mentioned plus.....

Space is really really big!

Imagine scooping up a handful of pebbles and throwing them one by one at a basketball that's some hundred yards away.

Now think about chunking a mile wide asteroid at a little blue planet some gazillion bizzilion miles away.