2km-wide asteroid approaching Earth, NASA warns

Jinentonix

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 6, 2015
11,619
6,262
113
Olympus Mons
speed is also a factor.
That too.
 

AnnaG

Hall of Fame Member
Jul 5, 2009
17,507
117
63
And alcohol content, too.

Oh, sorry. That's car crash, not asteroid crash. Pardon?
 

MHz

Time Out
Mar 16, 2007
41,030
43
48
Red Deer AB
It's not size that matters, it's mass. What's the asteroid's composition? Or to put it another way, what would you rather have fall on you, a beach ball or a 5 pin bowling ball?
Would an iron rich 'rock' shatter on impact because iron is very brittle the colder it gets starting at -40? (deep space is -300)
 

AnnaG

Hall of Fame Member
Jul 5, 2009
17,507
117
63
Most do shatter, but it's usually from being very cold and then being heated extremely fast by friction when hitting the atmosphere. It also matters if there is water/ice encapsulated inside the rock.
 

MHz

Time Out
Mar 16, 2007
41,030
43
48
Red Deer AB
Assuming the atmosphere is 100 miles deep, how long is the rock (with no water in it) in the atmosphere? It should get red and stay together If I toss an egg through a flame how much distance is needed before it is hard-boiled? If it hit the Canadian Shield It should be a smaller hole because the backside would still be at -300.
 

Blackleaf

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 9, 2004
49,956
1,910
113
This three-quarter-of-a-mile diameter crater in Arizona was formed 50,000 years ago by a nickel-iron object only around 160ft across. However, it was travelling at 28,600 mph (41 feet per second) when it impacted.

At the time, the area was open grassland dotted with woodlands inhabited by woolly mammoths and giant ground sloths.

 

Blackleaf

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 9, 2004
49,956
1,910
113
What?????? It didn't land in Britain????? what a shame.......something you can't Bulshïte-Brag about....


The biggest-known meteor crater in Britain struck the ground near the present-day town of Ullapool in north west Scotland 1.2 BILLION years ago. The crater is suspected to lie under the Minch, the waterway that separates the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides from the north-west Highlands of Scotland.

The massive impact would have melted rocks and thrown up an enormous cloud of vapour that scattered material over a large part of the region around Ullapool. The crater was rapidly buried by sandstone which helped to preserve the evidence. It has been estimated that the impact would have created a blast with the force of 145,000 megatons and that the shock wave would have created winds of 261mph (383 feet per second) as far away as the site of modern Aberdeen. Ejected material from the meteorite strike is scattered over an area about 31 miles across.






There is also an impact crater under the North Sea off the coast of Britain. It is called the Silverpit Crater and was formed between 74 and 45 million years ago. The object is thought to have been 393 feet across with a mass of 2 million tons.

 

Ludlow

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 7, 2014
13,588
0
36
wherever i sit down my ars
This three-quarter-of-a-mile diameter crater in Arizona was formed 50,000 years ago by a nickel-iron object only around 160ft across. However, it was travelling at 28,600 mph (41 feet per second) when it impacted.

At the time, the area was open grassland dotted with woodlands inhabited by woolly mammoths and giant ground sloths.

lived in Arizona most of my life and never had the desire to pay money to see a hole in the ground. Been close though drove through winslow many a time.
 

AnnaG

Hall of Fame Member
Jul 5, 2009
17,507
117
63
Assuming the atmosphere is 100 miles deep, how long is the rock (with no water in it) in the atmosphere?
Depends upon the speed and the angle of trajectory (or atmospheric entry).
It should get red and stay together
What should?
If I toss an egg through a flame how much distance is needed before it is hard-boiled?
Not sure about distance, but it would depend upon the intensity of heat as well.
If it hit the Canadian Shield It should be a smaller hole because the backside would still be at -300.
Wut?

About these nice round holes, not every asteroid or meteorite lands perpendicular to the Earth's surface. =)