2012 meteor supposed to destroy earth,when would we see it?

Sorry to be asking such a dumb question (I slept through too many science classes, regretting it now) but how could a meteor be made up of any ice? If ice is made up of water ,hydrogen and oxygen, and space if I recall correctly is so hot, wouldn't the ice be vaporized almost instantly? where do they think this water is coming from?

Originally posted by goose
If ice is made up of water ,hydrogen and oxygen, and space if I recall correctly is so hot, wouldn't the ice be vaporized almost instantly?

-270 degrees celsius, 3 degrees above absolute zero, is the temp. of space, I think. That's really cold.

Thanks, for some reason I thought space was hot.

Originally posted by davenman
Also, they do use radar to find the NEOs. I don't remember where, but I read about the use of dopplar radar to find and pinpoint locations and speeds of asteroids.

Not to belabor a minor issue. Doppler radar would not work in Earth to space to Earth applications as the energy needed to emit a signal; bounce off an object that is far away, and return would make it highly ineficient.

You might be thinking about the "doppler effect" that is usesd to determine stars' positions/movements relative to Earth. In this case, the "doppler effect" is measured by a change in color; a "red shift" if you will, to determine a star's relative movement to/from Earth.

Here is an excerpt from a lengthy study written by NASA where-in they describe the need for improved abilities to detect NEO's over what's being used today (optical).

Scroll down to section 3.4.7 "Asteroid Detection/Negation":

It has been proposed that a very suitable location for a space-based optical asteroid detection system would be in orbit around Venus. From that location, it would be in an ideal location to observe asteroids in the vicinity of Earth, and would also benefit from the shadow of Venus when observing "at opposition" (away from the Sun.)

Additional optical systems would possibly be advantageous at other points in space. The Earth-Sun system Lagrange point, L1 (the "interior" or "halo orbit point") has been suggested. L4 and/or L5 of the Earth Sun system or L3 of the Venus-Sun system (the "anti Venus" point) might also be candidates. Some of these locations might be especially valuable for detecting long-period comets on Earth-impacting trajectories that are too difficult to see from Earth because the viewing angle is always too close to the Sun.

Since advance warning is of the utmost importance with these objects, it will likely be considered worthwhile to investigate detection methods, other than optical. One such technique that has been proposed is that of radio waves ("Alfven Waves") caused by the flow of the solar wind over any impermeable object. These waves are of low frequency and do not penetrate the Earth's ionosphere.

Freedom,

I will look into this issue. You have me doubting now, but I was conviced by something that I had read somewhere that we had a satellite with dopplar radar whose sole purpose was to find most of these NEOs of 100 meters and larger.

I'm working out of memory here, but I thought what I read was saying that the radar use was being so successful that they were finding objects as they pass near to the Earth that are as small as 6 meters. These small object just aren't detectable until they are nearly upon us though. Thus, we find out a week later that an object passed within a few thousand miles of us. Keep in mind that an object of 6 meters diameter is almost no threat to us at all even if it were on a collision course. If it is made of solid iron, it might impact earth. The rusult of small meteors is usually that they sets fire to something on impact. An interesting thing happens to them after a few minutes though. The core is so cold from being in space, that they frost over as the heat of the external disipates.

Don't even hesitate to argue a point with me if I'm basing my info on false or presumed data. I'm in search of the truth here, whether the truth favors me or not.

Thanks,
DavenMan

BlackGuard,

That looks like interesting reading. I may have to buy the book since it is on the subject I've chosen to study this year.

Yes, it is cold in space. The Earth collects heat from the sun because of our atmosphere. Other planets need to be closer in order to absorb as much heat. Comets are made of water and the water goes from ice to vapor almost immediately as it melts in space...this is what causes much of the tail from my understanding. I believe the water melts from the sun facing side of the comet and vaporizes. Then the solar winds blow it past the comet away from the sun. As the water vapor passes into shadow again, it refreezes becoming visible and creating the tail.

I may be wrong about this, but that is my understanding. I'm sure that there are others here who can fine tune that image.

Both are scientists, and they present copious amounts of hard data to support their proposal. It was very compelling to me. The actual event may not have been just as they speculate, but something very much like that appears to have occured. Not something I want to witness.

As it's allready been stated, you can get the same "codes" in moby dick, probably in any other book to, so why people continue to believe that the "Bible codes" are real, amazes me.

Probably because the same reason they think not all crop circles are made by the two guys in England who confessed to it since they the crop circles are all found over the world.

As for the Moby Dick book the fact that it has more hits, could just be one of those weird coincidences that occur.

Originally posted by goose
Probably because the same reason they think not all crop circles are made by the two guys in England who confessed to it since they the crop circles are all found over the world.

while i have no doubt that we are not alone in the universe, dont you think that maybe crop circles are a case of copycatting? those two guys got some major publicity out of it, and there are always others who want their five seconds of fame (or just to get a good laugh at others expense...see this thread).

As for the Moby Dick book the fact that it has more hits, could just be one of those weird coincidences that occur.

kind of like the coincidence of bible code phrases matching events after they occur, but never before?

Originally posted by snafu7700

kind of like the coincidence of bible code phrases matching events after they occur, but never before?

with the one exception of the most famous bible code prediction being the assassination of Israeli PM Rabin a full year before it happened.

Originally posted by RebelSaint
with the one exception of the most famous bible code prediction being the assassination of Israeli PM Rabin a full year before it happened.

not that i doubt you reb, but source please? thats a new one on me.

snafu7700 there were many predictions about the future they were not just quoting the ones that happened already. Here is a link to one article in which they talk about some future events this year and tell of others that have already past but were found and reported on before they happened.

This article also tells about how the guy who discovered the bible code actually sent a letter to Rabin a full year before, telling him of the assassination and part of the name of the man who would be the killer. I would post parts of the article but the copyright info said I had to post all of it or none, so you will have to go to the link I am providing.

www.probe.org...

i think a code can be found in about any thing.

snafu, Michael Drosnin's The Bible Code is a book that sold primarily because of his year long warning to Rabin about an assassination before it happened. I have several History Channel documentaries and other videos which I can send you but that prediction is the prime reason the Bible Code exists in the mainstream at all.

There is also a second excellent prediction involving Israel again. I quote:

Drosnin viewed a printout that read "Hussein", "Scuds", and "Russian missile", words encoded together in the Book of Genesis. The full code sequence stated "Hussein picked the day." In Chapter 14 of Genesis where the story of Abraham's wars are written, the date 'fire on 3rd Shevat' had been found. That date from the Hebrew calendar is January 18, 1991, the day Iraq launched the first Scud missile against Israel. Rips discovered the date three weeks before the war started.

This prediction is equally important in my view because he warned the Israeli military of impending missile attacks from iraq and had picked the correct day based upon the Bible codes.

The Bible Codes are an enigma in my book because the probability of such matches and the frequency thereof is astonishing. No other text, Moby Dick included, can come close to matching it.

fair enough...thanks for the sources and i'll delve into it deeper before i comment further.

Freedom,

We had a discussion a few days ago about detecting asteroids using radar. I originally thought it was using Dopplar Radar and it may yet turn out to be. Anyway, I have found a NASA web location that points out the asteroids that have been found using radar, thus proving at least...that not all asteroids are found using land based telescopes.

If you poke around from the link I provide here, you'll notice that there was a substantial increase in the number of asteroids being discovered with radar around the beginning of 2000.

echo.jpl.nasa.gov...

I believe that there are also a large number of objects, many of them comets, being found using the SOHO images that are posted to the internet with regularity.

welll watever all this means...all i know is that im going to live my life to the fullest before any meteor destroys the earth...so i'd quit worrying and live like you only have 1 day to live!TextText Red

I'm a 13 year old in NY, and i'm really scared about this whole end of the earth thing. I'm religious and I am worried about going to heaven or not. This probably sounds really childish to all of you guys, but to me it's serious. Should I really be so worried? am I overreacting? what EXACTLY is going to happen (i doubt anyone knows at this point), and is anyone else as frightened as i am?


P.S. don't be jerks and say something stupid. You are all intelligent people and I really am looking for some meaningful feedback. Thanks


~DD

Originally posted by goose
Thanks, for some reason I thought space was hot.

I don't know, but I would assume "where" in space we are talking about.


By the sun, probably hot, unless I'm missing something important.

Far away from star, cold.... Unless there is something we don't know about.. The universe is huge, we can't know everything.

[edit on 23-5-2008 by _Phoenix_]