NASA's Kepler finds planets similar to Earth

**Coren** · 2013-10-17 16:40

20 times the diameter... is orders of magnitude larger by mass and kinetic energy. So yeah, even if those things were 100% chance to hit, you'd still *only* be talking a city-sized crater.

**Salodin** · 2013-10-17 21:04

Originally Posted by Coren

20 times the diameter... is orders of magnitude larger by mass and kinetic energy. So yeah, even if those things were 100% chance to hit, you'd still *only* be talking a city-sized crater.

Which on the size of this planet, isn't very big. In case any one was wondering...

Michael Bay has made me so apathetic to celestial impacts...

**Boyiee** · 2013-10-17 22:51

Originally Posted by archibaldcrane

Not really sure what the active science thread is, but there's a 1 in 36,000 chance (which is high as far as these things go) that we're gonna get wrecked in 2032 by a 400-meter asteroid.

http://www.latimes.com/world/worldno...,7912661.story

Originally Posted by Scythiroth

"Blow up the Earth" when it says 2.5 megatons of TNT? That seems quite a bit off to me. Damaging? sure, but won't end life on this planet.

Originally Posted by BadKarma

Thats a city killer though, for sure.

Originally Posted by Scythiroth

Definitely, just seemed kind of extreme to use that wording in that article though lol.

They updated the article, it is 2,500 megatons, not 2.5

This is much more than a city killer, but not a world killer. An airburst of about 100 megatons is enough to flatten NYC and most of the surrounding area with 2500 megatons taking out an area probably the size of Ireland. Still small on the global scale especially with how much of the planet is water, but deaths in the 100s of millions potentially. If the one that was over russia recently airbursted lower it would have been catastrophic.

**Boyiee** · 2013-10-17 22:54

Originally Posted by Bweigelt

In the end these are all tiny as hell. For comparison's sake the asteroid that created the chicxulub crater that hit around the time of the extinction of the dinosaurs was at least 10 km in diameter so more than 20 times the size of this one.

Oh and remember it wasn't the impact or force of the impact that killed them, it was the after effects which mammals and really most life was capable of surviving (not that you were arguing that). A true "global killer" would need to be absolutely massive. When I hear that term I think one of those space lasers or weapons out of scifi movies where the blast wraps around the planet. Needs more gamma ray bursts.

**archibaldcrane** · 2013-10-17 23:09

Originally Posted by Boyiee

If the one that was over russia recently airbursted lower it would have been catastrophic.

Nah, wasn't big enough to rank on Torino even if they had seen it coming.

The 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor had a total kinetic energy prior to impact of about 0.4 megatons, corresponding to Torino Scale 0

**archibaldcrane** · 2013-10-17 23:15

Although I suppose that is about 18 times stronger than the Fat Man nuke.

**Ghost_Wheel22** · 2013-10-17 23:21

And that asteroid was valued at nearly 100M megatons. This one would "only" obliterate a medium-sized state if on land or tidal waves that could scour half a continent's coastline. Bonus points if it hit a polar cap and raised the sea level by a good 10-20 feet.

**Boyiee** · 2013-10-18 00:51

Originally Posted by archibaldcrane

Although I suppose that is about 18 times stronger than the Fat Man nuke.

Yeah I know it wasn't much but its still pretty significant if you're nearby lol.

Originally Posted by Ghost_Wheel22

And that asteroid was valued at nearly 100M megatons. This one would "only" obliterate a medium-sized state if on land or tidal waves that could scour half a continent's coastline. Bonus points if it hit a polar cap and raised the sea level by a good 10-20 feet.

I think sea level is supposed to rise 3-6 feet within 100 years at my shore anyway, bring it. LETS REBUILD FROM SANDY

**bluefan** · 2013-10-18 06:23

On a side note, this would be amazing to watch come to fruition, no matter which path they take.

http://www.dailytech.com/Russia+US+E...ticle33569.htm

**BadKarma** · 2013-10-18 07:49

Originally Posted by bluefan

On a side note, this would be amazing to watch come to fruition, no matter which path they take.

http://www.dailytech.com/Russia+US+E...ticle33569.htm

Hey if it eases the tension between Murika and the red curtain I'm all for it

**AoE** · 2013-10-18 10:35

Originally Posted by BadKarma

Hey if it eases the tension between Murika and the red curtain I'm all for it

Dunno. America's idea of cooperation doesn't give me much hope. Tbh

**Kyreth** · 2013-10-18 10:51

I'd actually be more concerned on exactly where said asteroid hits vs. the size. Low population/tech density area like some parts of Africa? Not so bad. Impacting someplace with, say a nuclear waste dump or a reactor or two or other toxic repositories in the impact zone? That'd be considerably more "dirty" in it's impact outside the direct damage from the hit.

**Ghost_Wheel22** · 2013-10-18 20:40

Having the ocean rise 3-6 feet over a century is one thing. Having it rise 6-7 times that within a week is another.

**BadKarma** · 2013-10-19 20:09

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astro...this_rock.html

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