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[OLD NEWS] Asteroid impact risks 'underappreciated'
Topic Started: Apr 23 2014, 12:15 AM (162 Views)
CJ
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A very minor case of serious brain damage

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27039285

A visualisation showing where sizeable asteroids have hit the Earth in recent years has been released by the B612 Foundation.

The US-based group, which includes a number of former Nasa astronauts, campaigns on the issue of space protection.

It hopes the visualisation will press home the idea that impacts are more common than we think.

The presentation leans on data collected by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO).

The CTBTO operates a network of sensors that listens out for clandestine atom bomb detonations.

Between 2000 and 2013, this infrasound system catalogued 26 major explosions on Earth.

None were caused by A-bombs; they were all the result of asteroid strikes.



I have to admit, I didn't realize that asteroids were striking so often. Still, I expect most are too small to do much harm, and the vast majority happen a long way from anywhere.
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Zero Revolution
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King Zero

So I was right, it did seem like asteroids were striking the earth more often after hearing so many news stories about them the last few years. :P But yeah they're likely too small to affect areas being hit that much.
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CJ
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A very minor case of serious brain damage

On the plus side, there are no records of anyone ever being killed as a result of an asteroid impact. People have been hit by asteroids in the past, but none of those was fatal.

There was one last year in Russia that resulted in 1,500 people being injured - but all of those were due to indirect effects, rather than from the meteor itself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk_meteor
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Jarkko
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Christian. Exterminator of Spammers.

I remember that. That was flipping scary. o_O
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CJ
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A very minor case of serious brain damage

And, speaking of the Chelyabinsk Meteor, it's been discovered that it was set on its collision course with Earth when it struck a larger asteroid at a relative speed of 4,800km/h:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-23/asteroid-samples-analysed-after-earth-collision/5472798

Scientists suspect that the collision took place around 290 million years ago. I guess it's reassuring that we should have plenty of time to see things like this coming :P .
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