As I have been saying all along, asteroids and the impact of one on our planet is a far greater threat than any AGW BS. Even assuming the worst possible AGW scenario the planets temp would rise by 5 degrees. In other words it would get as warm as it was during the Holocene Thermal Maximum. And, to date all evidence shows that a warm world is far superior to a cold one.
But now, scientists are finally waking up to the fact that these things are out there and are a SIGNIFICANT threat. These things CAN wipe us out. THIS is what we need to spend our money on, not AGW bullshit.
"WASHINGTON (AP) Scientists studying the terrifying meteor that exploded without warning over a Russian city last winter say the threat of space rocks smashing into Earth is bigger than they thought.
Meteors about the size of the one that streaked through the sky at 42,000 mph and burst over Chelyabinsk in February and ones even larger and more dangerous are probably four to five times more likely to hit the planet than scientists believed before the fireball, according to three studies published Wednesday in the journals Nature and Science.
Until Chelyabinsk, NASA had looked only for space rocks about 100 feet wide and bigger, figuring there was little danger below that.
This meteor was only 62 feet across but burst with the force of about 40 Hiroshima-type atom bombs, scientists say. Its shock wave shattered thousands of windows, and its flash temporarily blinded 70 people and caused dozens of skin-peeling sunburns just after dawn in icy Russia. More than 1,600 people in all were injured.
Up until then, scientists had figured a meteor causing an airburst like that was a once-in-150-years event, based on how many space rocks have been identified in orbit. But one of the studies now says it is likely to happen once every 30 years or so, based on how often these things are actually hitting.
By readjusting how often these rocks strike and how damaging even small ones can be, "those two things together can increase the risk by an order of magnitude," said Mark Boslough, a Sandia National Lab physicist, co-author of one of the studies.
Lindley Johnson, manager of NASA's Near Earth Object program, said the space agency is reassessing what size space rocks to look for and how often they are likely to hit."
Russian fireball shows meteor risk may be bigger
But now, scientists are finally waking up to the fact that these things are out there and are a SIGNIFICANT threat. These things CAN wipe us out. THIS is what we need to spend our money on, not AGW bullshit.
"WASHINGTON (AP) Scientists studying the terrifying meteor that exploded without warning over a Russian city last winter say the threat of space rocks smashing into Earth is bigger than they thought.
Meteors about the size of the one that streaked through the sky at 42,000 mph and burst over Chelyabinsk in February and ones even larger and more dangerous are probably four to five times more likely to hit the planet than scientists believed before the fireball, according to three studies published Wednesday in the journals Nature and Science.
Until Chelyabinsk, NASA had looked only for space rocks about 100 feet wide and bigger, figuring there was little danger below that.
This meteor was only 62 feet across but burst with the force of about 40 Hiroshima-type atom bombs, scientists say. Its shock wave shattered thousands of windows, and its flash temporarily blinded 70 people and caused dozens of skin-peeling sunburns just after dawn in icy Russia. More than 1,600 people in all were injured.
Up until then, scientists had figured a meteor causing an airburst like that was a once-in-150-years event, based on how many space rocks have been identified in orbit. But one of the studies now says it is likely to happen once every 30 years or so, based on how often these things are actually hitting.
By readjusting how often these rocks strike and how damaging even small ones can be, "those two things together can increase the risk by an order of magnitude," said Mark Boslough, a Sandia National Lab physicist, co-author of one of the studies.
Lindley Johnson, manager of NASA's Near Earth Object program, said the space agency is reassessing what size space rocks to look for and how often they are likely to hit."
Russian fireball shows meteor risk may be bigger
