Quirks & Quarks

If borne out, how long has it been since eatch has been hit by such a sized meteorite? What is the frequency of such sized (or larger) strikes?

I like this quote: "With everything I see reported now, it seems to me like we just got hit," Schultz said. It has a certain stunned sentiment to it.

Haven't you ever tossed a coin then predicted the next toss based on the first? And how did it work out?

Tsk, Tsk, Tsk. An experienced science writer making THIS mistake???

"but the big ones arrive every hundred million years or so, and since the last one struck 65 million years ago, the odds that another one will not strike for a while are in our favor."

It may well be that the odds are in our favor, but if so that is certainly NOT "since" the last one struck 65 million years ago!

I only like the science writers who don't make mistakes like this, ya know, Bob! Really! HARUMPH!!!

:)

As usual Bob another interesting article with an excellent suggestion for solving the problem.
If you're reading this, let me also congratulate you for your excellent book "measuring the earth with a stick" Keep up the excellent work of keeping the average joe in the scientific loop. Sincerely, Mike

Here's an interesting thought: what is more likely, being killed by a terrorist, or being killed by a rogue rock from outer space?

A great idea indeed to devote space based missle defense systems to defend against rogue rocks instead of "rogue" states.

Given that on some nights, asteroids (near earth objects and others further out) are being discovered at the rate one per second*, I think it's dubious to entertain the thought of using military technology to address this problem (real or imagined).
More people are dying in greater numbers and with greater frequency from earthquakes, wind, lightning, excessive speed on our highways etc., etc., etc.,.
Besides, Starwars technology has yet to be sucessfully demonstrated; the whole idea seems to me to be a scam concocted by big industry for profit.
I'll take my chances with noggin bonkers

The news of a meteor impact resulting in people getting sick is of course tantalizing. If not for the resulting illnesses from the fumes doubtful the story would have made it out of Peru.

While I applaud Mr. McDonald's idea of using missile shield technology to address space-debris, the chances of that actually happening are about the same as the next giant asteroid impact. The irony is that those companies developing the technology could care less how it was used as long as it was paid for. Its the governments paying for it that seem to be insisting it points down to Earth.

Interesting idea about subverting the missile defence system to destroy space debris, but a few points. First, the missile defence system is not proved, and I have many doubts that it will work (my concerns are shared by many scientists). Second, you really want to be tracking and deflecting these objects while they are much further away-- that way you don't need to move them as much for them to miss the Earth, and you have more time to do this. Finally, I don't want to see a missile defence system in any form-- I think it's too destabilizing. I would rather put money into a large array of monitoring telescopes, and investigate methods of sending small spacecraft to dangerous objects to deflect them.

Tsk tsk! Everyone knows that rogue rocks aren't part of 'The War on Terror'. Get with the program Bob!

From the moment I read the first article on this case, I was intrigued. But I do have to question using the missile defence system to destroy rogue rocks unless the system is pointed upwards and away from our lovely planet. Heaven forbid we try to shoot a rogue rock out of the sky and miss, I could just see the lawsuits now...

YOU GUYS SHOULD JUST LEAVE BOB ALONE RIGHT NOW!!!! I MEAN IT!!!!!
;-)

"Haven't you ever tossed a coin then predicted the next toss based on the first? And how did it work out?"

But the coin toss is a random event, I'm not sure, but the impacts may be a quasi-regular event separated by quasi-regular amount of time. If that is the case, the coin toss analogy does not apply...

It's scary the scientists didn't see this one coming, what if the big one is on the way? What then? Do they have a plan to destroy or deviate it? They watch everything else in the sky....

Maybe it's better to not know???

Scientists did not see this coming becuase they work on a theory which ignores over half of mans knowledge about the universe. Panspermia, the idea by Hoyle and co regarding the principles of life being created in space by plasma (99.999% of the universe) in low energy reactions, such as the plasma tail of venus. His theory perdicted this and the entire EU theory solves most other issues. What amazes me is that scientists REFUSE to go against Einstein and his wholely asinine "bending of space".

Relativity is dead, The Big Bang is dead. We live in an electric universe. We are seeing it all the time.

Using missiles to fire at rocks is retarded. The earth's natural defence (It's intense electrical torus and magnetic field) tends to cause asteroids to become bolides at over 250 miles. Way to far to be heated by atmosphereic friction.

Then what causes the coma? Well it's a reaction of a charged body entering an electric field. Like a comet. You can actually watch them on YouTube arcing electrically to pieces as it breaks up in the atmosphere.

If it is too large it will create a 'crater' by arcing electrically to the surface and creating a "pillar of fire". Basically a thunderbolt. That will etch out a near circular formation on the ground. and then etch other things as it moves. you can see evidence of this electrical etching on all planets, and the earth is no exception.

We have recently heard a lot about asteroids hitting the earth. This has prompted me to tell you of an experience of mine.
At about 1900 hours in mid November of 1958 or 1959, I don’t recall the exact date I was driving south approaching my hometown of Pilot Mound, Manitoba. The entire countryside suddenly illuminated blue white. A huge fireball was traveling from north to south, east of my location and almost directly overhead. At about 80 degrees above the southern horizon the meteor stopped its brilliance and became an easily observed single source, at this point it was still a brilliant white. The apparent size of the object was about the size of a pencil eraser held at arms length. As it rapidly went south and down, from my perspective. The object rapidly cooled and showed a surprising amount of surface detail. As the object cooled, the jagged surface tips remained white while the lower surface became red. As it disappeared in the south the tips were dark red and the lower surfaces were dark.
At the time I thought that this object must have gone down someplace in North or South Dakota.
I lot of years later and a lot wiser, I later did some calculations and came to realize that this object had to have been an asteroid. I calculated that the object must have gone directly overhead at about Morden, Manitoba,
Its position above the earth had to have been in the area between 50 and 80 miles above the surface of the earth. This would place the object at about 80 miles away from my position. This yields a size of between 1500 and 2500 feet in diameter.
In 1990 I went to the Winnipeg library and did a search through the old Winnipeg Free Press newspapers hoping to find a reference to this sighting. I found nothing. I have often wondered if anyone else saw and reported this object.
I have since read and have seen video of abjects apparently skipping out of the atmosphere.
I suspect that if we had an accurate time fix on the object I saw some physicist might be able to construct a possible orbit for this object and prevent a catastrophe in the future.
When I was five or six (1947)my brother and I saw an object slowly travel from east to west in the middle of the day. It glowed bright white, appeared to trail flames and left a smoky black trail.
I suggest that these objects are more common than presently believed.

Re: "The earth's natural defence (It's [sic] intense electrical torus and magnetic field) tends to cause asteroids to become bolides at over 250 miles. Way to [sic] far to be heated by atmosphereic [sic] friction." Perhaps Neil Thompson got hit on the head with an electric bolide. We have a lot of good data on what happens to massive metallic objects moving at high speed through the atmosphere from 50 years of rocket launches. The most parsimonious explanation, and the one for which there is vast corroboration, is that friction with the air heats up incoming space debris.

...and while I'm hurling brickbats, Bob McDonald's statistical howler (about the odds of The Big One hitting being small because a previous Big One hit only 65 million years ago) reminded me of The World According To Garp by John Irving. Garp is out looking at a house for sale, and as he watches, a small plane plows straight into the second storey. He decides to buy it straight away, using the same sort of logic as Bob did, because it had been "pre-disastered". I mean, what are the odds of it happening twice?

Neil Thompson you have a mind for matter.
I agree with the writer that this is the fifth culture upon the earth that we 'know' about and the earth has been crateored each time that brings about it's change.

Fred Hoyle and his brilliant protegy Chandra Wickramasinghe at Cardiff University, Wales along with Walter Alveraz and son, bring such greater perspective to the scientific understanding of our worlds life emergence.

Most importantly the comet 'dusting' of iridium and rare elements that raise the amino acid chain evolutionary complexity. How that iridium may be the reason man's DNA evolves into higher consciousness of awareness.

Recently, October 19th Vancouver had a thunderbolt that was a very unusual. Although it had been raining a sound like a locamotive rumbling started to shake the windows and walls. A light so bright lit the evening sky and a thunderbolt of such mega charge boomed over the city.

What was the odd part was people everywhere remarked how in their homes and buildings a brilliant 'camera flash' blinding light entered their homes.

I wondered after if this was not an asteroid or space debris entering our earth atmosphere and creating a sonic boom over Vancouver.

It was like no thunderstorm I had ever seen.
One rogue sonic boom of sound and one mega explosion of light. No other rumbles of thunder, and no other bolts of light'ning. Just one.

If it was a iridium flare, or comet dusting in the atmosphere the wheat and harvest grains may be somehow effected. This is what I think happened in Summerian civilization that advanced a society to a new level of living.

Just a thought.