Asteroid Impact Imminent In 2182

Scientists that are studying the orbit of asteroid '(101955) 1999 RQ36' have concluded that there is potential for collision with the blue planet in 2182.

Discovered back in 1999, this asteroid has the potential for a collision course with Earth. Scientists calculate that the chance of '(101955) 1999 RQ36' asteroid hitting the Earth is around one 1 in 1000 chance. Although, the chance can be cut in half in conjunction with the date "2182." So that means, on that date, there is a very probable chance of impact.

This asteroid measures in at around 560 meters in diameter, so its defiantly something to worry about.


What Kind Of Destruction Will It Cause?

Flattened trees from the Tunguska Explosion.

On June 30, 1908 the Tunguska Explosion was an asteroid that exploded in the atmosphere before it struck the ground. It created an explosion as big as 185 Hiroshima bombs and flattened 830 square miles worth of trees. Scientists estimate that that asteroid was a few tens of meters in diameter (40-70 diameters).

If '(101955) 1999 RQ36' smacks into the earth, imagine something 10 times more powerful than the Tunguska asteroid. Now use your imagination as to what kind of destruction it will cause.

No matter where this thing hits, its going to make one serious bang. You can be sure of that.

Stopping The Impact
"If this object had been discovered after 2080, the deflection would require a technology that is not currently available," Says María Eugenia Sansaturio, co-author of the study and researcher at the Universidad de Valladolid.

I think technology will be much more advanced by the time this impact is imminent.

If we decide to use a deflection strategy to move the asteroid off its orbit, some serious calculation will need to be in play. It could come back to haunt us on a later date if we don't get our calculations correct. We don't want that to happen, do we?

By 2080 I think there will be much more asteroid killing technology to chose from. But I could be wrong, you never know. We may all be doomed to a horrible death. Wait, I'll be dead before 2182 anyway!

The research from this study also included scientists from the University of Pisa (Italy), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (USA) and INAF-IASF-Rome (Italy).

Is this asteroid something to worry about?

Related Post: Nuclear Weapons Might Save Mankind From Killer Asteroids


Source: Press release, FECYT (Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology)

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Most Fascinating Science News Of The Week: July 20, 2010

Here is a list of interesting science news headlines that I have found the most interesting this week. All headline links go to sciencedaily.com. 


Triceratops and Torsaurus were same dinosaur at different stages -
ScienceDaily (2010-07-14) -- Triceratops and Torosaurus were the same dinosaur at different stages of growth, according to new research. Since the late 1800s, scientists have believed that Triceratops and Torosaurus were two different types of dinosaurs. Triceratops had a three-horned skull with a rather short frill, whereas Torosaurus had a much bigger frill with two large holes through it.

Mayan king's tomb discovered in Guatemala -
ScienceDaily (2010-07-17) -- A well-preserved tomb of an ancient Mayan king has been discovered in Guatemala. The tomb is packed with carvings, ceramics, textiles, and the bones of six children, who may have been sacrificed at the time of the king's death.

Fly's brain -- a high-speed computer: Neurobiologists use state-of-the-art methods to decode the basics of motion detection -
ScienceDaily (2010-07-13) -- The minute brains of flies process visual movements in only fractions of a second. Just how the brain of the fly manages to perceive motion with such speed and precision is predicted quite accurately by a mathematical model.

Juno spacecraft armored up to go to Jupiter -
ScienceDaily (2010-07-14) -- NASA's Juno spacecraft will be forging ahead into a treacherous environment at Jupiter with more radiation than any other place NASA has ever sent a spacecraft, except the sun. In a specially filtered cleanroom in Denver, where Juno is being assembled, engineers recently added a unique protective shield around its sensitive electronics.

Stellar explosions provide the key to understanding the fate of the universe -
ScienceDaily (2010-07-13) -- The mysteries of the universe and how we came to be are set to be unlocked by a technique for modeling fluids, similar to one which is becoming increasingly popular within the film industry to improve the realism of special effects.


Fascinating images from a new world: Close-ups of the asteroid Lutetia - Gabriel's Pick
ScienceDaily (2010-07-14) -- The ESA space probe Rosetta flew past the Lutetia planetoid on July 10, 2010. The OSIRIS camera system provided unique images of this rendezvous. They not only show a large number of craters on the surface of the celestial body, but also individual rocks and parallel grooves.

Record-breaking X-ray blast briefly blinds space observatory -
ScienceDaily (2010-07-14) -- A blast of the brightest X-rays ever detected from beyond our Milky Way galaxy's neighborhood temporarily blinded the X-ray eye on NASA's Swift space observatory earlier this summer, astronomers now report. The X-rays traveled through space for 5-billion years before slamming into and overwhelming Swift's X-ray Telescope. The blinding blast is by far the brightest light source ever seen in X-ray wavelengths at cosmological distances.

Unravelling the mystery of massive star birth: All stars are born the same way -
ScienceDaily (2010-07-14) -- Astronomers have obtained the first image of a dusty disc closely encircling a massive baby star, providing direct evidence that massive stars form in the same way as their smaller brethren.


Super-hot planet with unique comet-like tail discovered -
ScienceDaily (2010-07-15) -- Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have confirmed the existence of a baked object that could be called a "cometary planet." The gas giant planet, named HD 209458b, is orbiting so close to its star that its heated atmosphere is escaping into space. Observations taken with Hubble's Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) suggest powerful stellar winds are sweeping the cast-off atmospheric material behind the scorched planet and shaping it into a comet-like tail.

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Why You shouldn't Go Swimming In A Lightning Storm [Video]

Why shouldn't you go swimming in a lightning storm? There is good reason that they say to get out of the water when lighting starts to show it's sparky little head. Water can conduct electricity so your chances of being fried are a bit higher, and, well, the other reason you will learn by watching the video, trust me.

(See: 6 really cool lightning pictures)

This is a video I originally seen on my favorite TV show called Attack of the Show. I've witnessed some pretty cool lightning strikes in my time, but nothing that even remotely resembles the one in this video. I'm so glad that these people were filming this thunderstorm. I am fascinated with weather and to see something like this lightning bolt just strikes the spot in my soul. If this was me and I didn't get to video tape this bolt, I would be scarred for life. Enjoy the video, It's awesome!

5 Quick Facts About Lightning

1. You can get struck by lightning even when the center of a storm is 10 miles away.
2. Using the telephone during a thunderstorm is the leading cause of lightning injuries inside the home.
3. The odds of getting struck by lightning is 1 in 700,000 in the U.S. per year.
4. Lightning can strike in the same place twice .
5. Lightning can raise the temperature of the air by 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit and pack 100 million volts. 

Wasn't that fascinating? Anyone want to go for a swim now? Do you think Zeus has something against this dude? Thank god this guy wasn't trying to be a jackass and in the water for a nice leisurely swim!

Be safe out there! Read more about lightning safety here: Nationalgeographic Lightning Facts

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One Giant Leap For Cyber Space?

So, what have the geniuses at NASA been up too lately? Prepare to be amazed!

First, a question:

Is NASA ever going back to the Moon?
I'm not about to start a political debate. So I'll get  straight to the point.

NASA has already been back to the Moon.

That's right, I'm not kidding you.

(And no I'm not talking about the Moon that would would witness if I pulled my pants down.)

Introducing NASA's brand new video game, (yes, I said video game) Moonbase Alpha. It's the latest in human innovation.

(See -- I was telling you the truth, they have been back to the Moon, just in cyber space!)

So What's The Game About?
"In Moonbase Alpha, you assume the exciting role of an astronaut working to further human expansion and research. Returning from a research expedition, you witness a meteorite impact that cripples the life support capability of the settlement. With precious minutes ticking away, you and your team must repair and replace equipment in order to restore the oxygen production to the settlement," said NASA.



Where's Neil Armstrong when you need him?

Oh, wait, here he is:
 "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"

Thank you, Neil, for those amazing words.

The Conclusion
The game is available for free. So, that's some good news. The bad news is that I don't think the whole world is going to be glued to the television waiting for you to land on the Moon in cyber space. You can play with up to 6 players on each team. The game has a single player mode and internet multilayer mode. Hey, exploring the Moon in cyber space with internet buds might be pretty fun. I just might have to give this game a try.

Go check it out for yourself and look at the screenshots - moonbasealphagame.com


Is this something NASA should be putting resources into? Would you even play the game?

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Most Fascinating Science News Of The Week: July 12, 2010

Here is a list of science news headlines that I have found the most interesting this week. All headline links go to sciencedaily.com -- the best place for science news in my opinion.
 
Surprisingly regular patterns in hurricane energy discovered
ScienceDaily (2010-07-09) -- Researchers in Spain have discovered a mathematical relation between the number of hurricanes produced in certain parts of Earth and the energy they release.

Watch while an asteroid eats a star
ScienceDaily (2010-07-06) -- In a rare event on July 8, 2010, skywatchers will be able to see an asteroid briefly block out the light from a star as it passes in front. It may be the only asteroid 'occultation' this century observable with the naked eye.

Black hole blows big bubble
ScienceDaily (2010-07-08) -- Combining observations made with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and NASA's Chandra X-ray telescope, astronomers have uncovered the most powerful pair of jets ever seen from a stellar black hole. This object, also known as a microquasar, blows a huge bubble of hot gas, 1000 light-years across, twice as large and tens of times more powerful than other known microquasars.

Rosetta triumphs at asteroid Lutetia
ScienceDaily (2010-07-11) -- Asteroid Lutetia has been revealed as a battered world of many craters. European Space Agency's Rosetta mission has returned the first close-up images of the asteroid showing it is most probably a primitive survivor from the violent birth of the Solar System.

Miniature energy harvesting technology could power wireless electronics
ScienceDaily (2010-07-09) -- Newly published research focuses on miniature energy harvesting technologies that could potentially power wireless electronics, portable devices, stretchable electronics, and implantable biosensors.


Any of these stories strike a particular interest?

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Nuclear Weapons Might Save Mankind From Killer Asteroids

In the movie Armageddon, the scientists say that launching nuclear rockets will make the problem worse by bursting the asteroid into thousands of pieces, creating the same life ending scenario, except with smaller pieces.

So they come up with the solution to land on the asteroid and drill deep into it, plant a nuclear bomb, and explode it from it's interior. Instead of bursting it into thousands of pieces; it would split the asteroid in half and out of Earth's orbit, as shown in the movie.

Let's get our minds out of movies for a second and listen to real scientists. Bruce Willis won't be here for the real thing I can assure you that!

According to physicist David Dearborn, of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California--nuclear weapons could be a solution for an asteroid that would impact Earth within 50 years or so. The power of the nuclear explosion, he believes, would knock the asteroid out of it's orbit with Earth.

On the contrary, David Morrison, director at Nasa Lunar Science Institue and senior scientist at Nasa's Ames Research Center in Moffet Field, California, said this to Space.com: "If we have an asteroid that is really large, and we don't have more than a few years notice, nuclear is probably all we can do. If it's a mile or smaller and we have 10 to 20 years warning, we probably won't go nuclear."
  
On July 10, the Rosetta--a European spacecraft--will flyby the asteroid called Lutetia in hopes of capturing valuable photographs for scientists to study. This will further advance the somewhat small knowledge known about asteroids in space. If we go further into the future, by 2025, NASA plans to send astronauts to land on an asteroid. If that happens, it will be one hell of a day!


Landing on asteroids and planting nuclear weapons may be a viable option in some cases, however, according to Morrison, ballistic rockets may be an even better solution.

"If we test the ballistic impact, as people have proposed doing, then we can make it much more accurate than a nuke. One of the problems with the nuclear alternative is that I don't think anyone will ever let us test it," he said.

The other scientist, Dearborn, explains that exploding an asteroid with powerful enough nuclear explosives could be an effective solution to knock it off it's orbit with Earth. It could even be done with an asteroid as close as 15 days from impact.

"If you can intersect it 15 days out, which is beyond the orbit of the moon, that would be fine," said Dearson.

You would still have to worry about space debris, but, he says, if you use enough nuclear energy, it will diminish most of the debris before it gets to Earth.

The farther the explosion out in space, the less of an impact the debris may cause.

As our technology stands today, we should have the ability to protect the Earth from big asteroids. Sadly, the only thing technology has for us to solve such a problem is nuclear weapons and ballistic rockets.

Do you think nuclear weapons should be used if an asteroid impact is imminent?

For Further Reading Go to this article on space.com

Other News:
Antimatter Like Particles Discovered Deep Inside Earth
Scientist Claims Humans Will Become Extinct In 100 Years
The Solar Storm That May End It All In 2013
Possible Life On Saturn's Moon Titan Found
Life On Mars Possible Researchers Say 

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Most Fascinating News Of The Month: June 2010

 Here are the most fascinating news headlines for the month of June 2010. Enjoy!
 
Antimatter Like Particles Discovered Deep Inside Earth - Scientists have discovered antimatter like particles deep under the Earth's surface. The particles that were discovered are called geoneutrinos. Geoneutrinos are lightweight, neutrally charged particles, that are the antimatter counterparts of neutrinos.

Scientist Claims Humans Will Become Extinct In 100 Years - Overpopulation, food shortages, climate change, and future wars over food. Are we already at the point of no return? According to 95 year old Professor Frank Fenner, we are.
"We're going to become extinct. Whatever we do now is too late." He said in an interview with The Australian.


The Solar Storm That May End It All In 2013 - In the next few years, NASA has predicted that solar storms may get so intense that it could utterly end all electronic technology known to man. Essentially, knocking us all back the the pioneer days!


Possible Life On Saturn's Moon Titan Found - Scientists are speculating that there could be possible life on Saturn's moon Titan. They have found strange chemical activity that could lead to evidence of alien life.


Life On Mars Possible Researchers Say - Researchers have discovered methane-eating bacteria in a spring in Canada's extreme North. Located on Axel Heiberg island the spring is called the Lost Hammer spring and could be very similar to springs that have existed on Mars.

Dinosaur Found In Mexico Has Horns 4 Feet Long - A brand spanking new species of dinosaur was found in Mexico recently. The horns on this raging beast get up to 4 feet long.

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Antimatter Like Particles Discovered Deep Inside The Earth

Scientists have discovered antimatter like particles deep under the Earth's surface. The particles that were discovered are called geoneutrinos. Geoneutrinos are lightweight, neutrally charged particles, that are the antimatter counterparts of neutrinos.

Antimatter holds pretty much the opposite properties of regular matter. For example, If  just an ordinary particle, say an electron, collides with an antimatter particle--They will explode. Antimatter is sometimes referenced to as the "god particle" and for good reason. With just around 1 kg of antimatter, you could create an explosion big enough to match that of the Tsar bomb, which is the world's most powerful nuclear weapon. Although, the discover of these so called "antimatter particles" are not actually antimatter. They kinda are similar in the sense that geoneutrinos are the opposites of neutrinos, like how antimatter is the opposite of matter.

Deposits of these antimatter particles is caused by radioactive decay of thorium, uranium, and potassium from the Earth's crust and mantle.

The discovery originated at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics. They used a giant steel sphere that is buried about a mile under Gran Sasso moutain in Italy. The sphere has a inner nylon sphere detector that holds 1,000 tons of hydrocarbon liquid. It then has an outer steel sphere which contains ultra-sensitive photodetectors and then the whole thing is encased in another steel sphere (45 ft diameter) that holds about 2,400 tons of purified water. The thing is designed to only detect solar neutrinos, geoneutrinos and neutrinos. After an entire year of searching for the geoneutrinos particles, only a few were found. However, solar neutrinos are relatively common as the sphere can detect them more easily. Geoneutrinos, on the other hand, are very difficult to find as they can pass through everything without any kind of interaction whatsoever. The research is still ongoing.

Studying geoneutrinos could help researchers better understand the way heat develops and flows under our planet and how it can affect events like volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

Photo credit: Paolo Lombardi INFN-MI
Story Adapted from: Livescience

Related Posts:
Scientists Claim Humans Will Become Extinct In 100 Years
The Solar Storm That May End It All In 2013

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