Deep impact?
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Re: Deep impact?
Posted by Kain on Tue Jul 5th at 7:33pm 2005


Does someone with a scientific background understand better what's going on? Why are the Americans attacking a comet??



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Re: Deep impact?
Posted by French Toast on Tue Jul 5th at 8:05pm 2005


Because the comet is basically a still image of what everything was at the creation of the universe. From what I know, their goal is to collect bits from the inside, so they can understand what happened at the beginning of the universe.




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Re: Deep impact?
Posted by pepper on Tue Jul 5th at 8:13pm 2005


There looking at the building blocks of our universe.



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Re: Deep impact?
Posted by DrGlass on Tue Jul 5th at 8:16pm 2005


Its a terrorist.



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Re: Deep impact?
Posted by Spartan on Tue Jul 5th at 8:27pm 2005


I was reading the yahoo news and some Russian woman is sueing Nasa for several millions dollars because she said they messed up her horoscope when the crashed into the meteor.




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Re: Deep impact?
Posted by DrGlass on Tue Jul 5th at 8:45pm 2005


? quoting Spartan
I was reading the yahoo news and some Russian woman is sueing Nasa for several millions dollars because she said they messed up her horoscope when the crashed into the meteor.

yeah, that will hold up...

I think if we flogged more people for doing dumb things, there would be alot more floggins.





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Re: Deep impact?
Posted by Mephs on Tue Jul 5th at 9:24pm 2005


I like the fact that they blasted millions of dollars of tax payers money off into space essentially to whack a big rock to see if it splashed (ice) or crashed (metal/rock). It woulda been funny if it knocked it on to a collision course with earth...maybe thats why that Russian idiot was so pissed; previously her horoscope predicted good fortune and that shed meet a tall dark stranger. Now it say "you will be smashed to bits by a giant rock".






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Re: Deep impact?
Posted by Hugh on Tue Jul 5th at 11:18pm 2005


It's a comet, not a meteor :P

Wise words, Dr. Glass.



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Re: Deep impact?
Posted by satchmo on Tue Jul 5th at 11:21pm 2005


The projectile that was shot towards the comet has the mass ratio comparable to that of a fly hitting a commercial passenger jet.

Unless you think the fly can knock off a plane from the sky, you shouldn't worry about the comet being affected by the impact.



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Re: Deep impact?
Posted by DrGlass on Tue Jul 5th at 11:49pm 2005


? quoting satchmo
The projectile that was shot towards the comet has the mass ratio comparable to that of a fly hitting a commercial passenger jet.

Unless you think the fly can knock off a plane from the sky, you shouldn't worry about the comet being affected by the impact.

pwend





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Re: Deep impact?
Posted by RaPtoR on Wed Jul 6th at 12:19am 2005


Huh what do you mean by the creation of the universe? The astroids where formed during the creaton of the solar system (but what the hell both time points where a-freaking-way-back however one didn't explode, and one time point existed at the same time as time)



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Re: Deep impact?
Posted by DrGlass on Wed Jul 6th at 12:32am 2005


I think comits are a diffrent story, they are massive frozen hunks of matter that orbit the sun. Not sure about the whole "around from the start or the universe" thing, but it could well be.



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Re: Deep impact?
Posted by French Toast on Wed Jul 6th at 1:14am 2005


Yeah, I'm not sure, I just read it in an article somewhere.




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Re: Deep impact?
Posted by G4MER on Wed Jul 6th at 1:53am 2005


yeah we spotted Bin Laden hiding in a cave on the thing.. and we decided to take his ass out once and for all.

No really, they want to drill it for minierals, to see if there are unknown particles we have never seen in it.. Also it was a test to see if the big one should head at us, if we could stop it. Thats what they were saying on the news the other nite.





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Re: Deep impact?
Posted by omegaslayer on Wed Jul 6th at 2:46am 2005


On the comet subject: They were hitting the comet so they could break off a few pieces and study it, see where it came from. Thats the story that they told everyone.
Here comes a End of the world Senario:
The comet was on a collision path with the earth already, They collided the probe with the comet so it would change its trajectory. The reason why they didn't say that the comet was going to collide was for fear of mass wide panic: roits in the streets, stock market crashing, roads blocked by people "trying" to get away from the point of impact, Michael Jackson leaving children alone (Just kidding :P). I know that Satchmo's analogy is correct (inertia on earth is the same in space), but the littlest force might just knock it out of line, dunno really. This is of coarse a "EOTW" senario, and it is highly unlikely.






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Re: Deep impact?
Posted by Crono on Wed Jul 6th at 2:58am 2005


You know, I could be an ass and calculate it all out, but it's easier to say that the comit wouldn't effect the Earth's orbit without proof. Just take my word on it. If something did hit, it'd have to be pretty massive to actually cause a dent in our way of life. A comit the size of a state or country would do that, could cause a nuclear winter even. (the impact creates dust clouds which cycle up in the air and obstruct sun flow, this, if I'm not mistaken, in bad cases, lasts thousands of years, if not more)

The Earth's orbit changes all the time anyway, just to let you know. It's small changes, but it changes nonetheless. I think there's some other thing like, the poles switching position, that'd cause more worry then a comit wiping out life. Even if there was a huge world annihilating comit that killed the dinosaurs, it didn't kill everything, since there's still life that is similiar to what we've found in fossils.

But, I could be wrong, I mean, no one actually knows, it's all just hypothesis'.



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Re: Deep impact?
Posted by Fjorn on Wed Jul 6th at 6:41am 2005


ahem

it was "beginnings of the solar system" not the universe...

It hit the commet, and then they sudy the debris

Its time was not coincidental though, NASA is a us government agency after all :P



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Re: Deep impact?
Posted by omegaslayer on Wed Jul 6th at 6:47am 2005


? quote:
You know, I could be an ass and calculate it all out, but it's easier to say that the comit wouldn't effect the Earth's orbit without proof. Just take my word on it. If something did hit, it'd have to be pretty massive to actually cause a dent in our way of life. A comit the size of a state or country would do that, could cause a nuclear winter even. (the impact creates dust clouds which cycle up in the air and obstruct sun flow, this, if I'm not mistaken, in bad cases, lasts thousands of years, if not more)

The Earth's orbit changes all the time anyway, just to let you know. It's small changes, but it changes nonetheless. I think there's some other thing like, the poles switching position, that'd cause more worry then a comit wiping out life. Even if there was a huge world annihilating comit that killed the dinosaurs, it didn't kill everything, since there's still life that is similiar to what we've found in fossils.

But, I could be wrong, I mean, no one actually knows, it's all just hypothesis'.

I agree, I was just bringing attention to the fact that: what if a comet was on its way? would the government tell us (to prevent mass histeria/riots/etc.)? Would we find out at the time of impact? Really at our level of technology there is nothing we can do to prevent a comet, or meteor, except hide under ground and wait out the winter that comes with these events :P

And yes about every 3-4 million (or billion) years the earth's magnetic poles switch (bad for our computer/electronically dependent society), and even the sun will eventually colapse into a black hole (or would someone like to enlighten me as to what is does become?). Although I doubt any humans will be around to witness any of these things take place.






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Re: Deep impact?
Posted by Crono on Wed Jul 6th at 7:40am 2005


Our sun won't become a black hole, it's too small. And it takes millions of years to happen.

It goes to a Red Dwarf and increases in size (forget the ratio), I think, it's outer edge would reach Mars or something as such (destroying all in it's way, making the next closest planet very hot). Then it'd collapse back down, but it'd become a quasar or white dwarf or whatever, because it isn't massive enough.

Humans will be long dead before this happens. It'd take something like 4x our current existence time or something.

And we don't know for a fact that there are black holes, I mean, after all you can't see them, no light escapes. There's just massive "holes" in space with a center of gravity, since there are moons and planets orbiting. And yes, IF our sun became a black hole, the solar system would continue to orbit and wouldn't get sucked in.

If there were a comet heading towards earth that'd be classified as an "annihilator" or something like that, they'd inform us. Honestly, you'd be able to see it at night with university telescopes, the information would be everywhere. I think, if I'm not mistaken, astronomy students do make most sightings anyway. I'm sure, they'd try to keep it under wraps to an extent, but, seriously, it'd be like trying to cover up a hurricane, I don't think it'd happen. Not to mention, you're only accounting for the US. Other countries would have a say, this would be a global issue.

I'm not sure how they'd stop it though. The asteroid field outside Mars is doing a pretty good job so far ... which is odd, because it's just on one plane.
There are ways to advert it though. If the fate of EARTH was in the balance, I'm sure money would seem less important in this light. I would hope that all countries would participate in the funding, or that the materials and labor could be volunteered.

Realistically, if a meteor or comet came to impact with us, it probably wouldn't do that severe of damage (relatively speaking). It'd probably just destroy some cities and cause a large tsunami.

But I'm not versed in the field or anything.



Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



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Re: Deep impact?
Posted by wil5on on Wed Jul 6th at 8:04am 2005


By definition, meteors do not hit Earth. As soon as they do, they become meteorites.

The damage a comet impact would do depends on where it hits... in the ocean, it would cause a gigantic tsunami. On land, it would cause earthquakes, and send up tons of dust. Depending on the size of the comet, a land impact could cause less damage than an ocean impact. If the comet is large, either way we're screwed.




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