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120,000 km Is Still Too Close

Posted by timothy on from the ha-ha-missed-again dept.

texchanchan writes: "BBC report: '...on 14 June, an asteroid (maybe as big as 120 meters in diameter)... made one of the closest-ever recorded approaches to the Earth. ..' but was only discovered three days later. This is well within the moon's orbit. 'If 2002MN had hit the Earth, it would have caused local devastation similar to that which occurred in Tunguska, Siberia, in 1908...'"

20 of 546 comments (clear)

  1. Closer and closer ... by Titusdot+Groan · · Score: 4, Funny

    Every time we hear about one of these it's closer than the last time.

    Is somebody aiming these things?

    1. Re:Closer and closer ... by killmenow · · Score: 2, Funny

      Perhaps it's Marvin?

      "What happened to the kaboom? There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering kaboom!"

  2. Re:U.S. Govt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Don't worry, if/when some city gets flattened somewhere, the world will be forced to deal with this threat. Perhaps the USA will even declare a "war on asteroids" and spend trillions of dollars on hunting down rogue asteroids. At least we know there is an entire generation of people trained to demolish Asteriods in an efficient manner.

  3. Clendathu by GuyMannDude · · Score: 5, Funny

    Every time we hear about one of these it's closer than the last time.

    Is somebody aiming these things?

    Analysis shows that they are originating from a far-away planet. An ugly planet. A bug planet.

    GMD

    --
    watch this
  4. Re:Where would it have hit? by American+AC+in+Paris · · Score: 2, Funny
    Has anyone done the calculations to determine where the thing would have landed if it had impacted Earth?

    Why, the surface, of course.

    --

    Obliteracy: Words with explosions

  5. Don't worry by Washizu · · Score: 5, Funny

    We'll see any real asteroid threats about 3 days sooner.

    --
    OddManIn: A Game of guns and game theory.
  6. Re:U.S. Govt by Peyna · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yeah, but 1 person on that team is probably smarter than the collective brain of the people working at that McDonalds.

    --
    What?
  7. Assteroids... sheesh by warpSpeed · · Score: 3, Funny
    'If 2002MN had hit the Earth, it would have caused local devastation similar to that which occurred in Tunguska, Siberia, in 1908...'"

    These guys have obviously not tried my three alarm chilli and some of my homebrew. Talk about destruction... thank god there were no open flames near by last time.

  8. Interesting name... by doorbot.com · · Score: 2, Funny

    "2002MN"

    Does that stand for "Near Miss 2002" (in reverse, of course, so as to not sow fear, uncertainty, and doubt)?

  9. It *did* impact... by chinton · · Score: 5, Funny

    And it appears to have crashed into the BBC's web server...

  10. Oh Yeah?!? by rutledjw · · Score: 4, Funny
    when 2,000 square kilometres of forest were flattened.

    Then it's getting close to what a rogue Forrest Ranger can do in Colorado!

    --

    Computer Science is Applied Philosophy
  11. Re:U.S. Govt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
    And I would like to thank the government of Australia, who, unlike the US, completely cancelled anything and everything remotely related to asteroid research.

    Convince them they can get rid of illegal immigrants by placing them on passing asteroids. That'll get funding back in a hurry.

  12. See? by Luveno · · Score: 2, Funny

    This is why the US government needs to get Bruce Willis under contract.

  13. Re:U.S. Govt by Geekboy(Wizard) · · Score: 3, Funny

    yea, but on average, they have the same number of eyes.

  14. Re:If a giant asteroid is going to hit me by boomer_rehfield · · Score: 2, Funny

    I agree. One quick beer run, get the grill and a lawn chair and I'm good.

    --
    Carpe Canem - Seize the Dog
  15. Are we expecting... by Wolfier · · Score: 5, Funny

    8:03 P.M. EST

    Bush declares a "War on Asteroids".

    Bush: Our nation faces a threat to our freedoms, and the stakes could not be higher. We are the target of enemies who boast they want to kill -- kill all Americans, kill all Jews, kill all Christians, kill all Muslims, and kill all mankind. We've seen that type of hate before -- although they're near misses, the only possible response is to confront it, and to defeat it.

    This enemy tries to hide behind a peaceful cosmos, yet its murderous intent is obvious.

    We will, no doubt, face new challenges. Make no mistake. Although we have absolutely no idea where you are, when you'll come, or even how big you are - wherever you are, whether in our solar system, in our galaxy, and outside the galaxy, we WILL track you down, and we'll defeat you.

    Thank you.

    [APPLAUSE]

  16. Re:U.S. Govt by ryanvm · · Score: 3, Funny

    In all fairness, the article states that the path of the asteroid was on a line with the sun. There is no way Earth based telescopes could have seen it, even had they known exactly where to look.

    Fools! They should just slap a sheet of welder's glass on their telescopes.

    Where do I pick up my Nobel Prize?

  17. Re:Just think.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Or you could compare it to Libraries of Congress (LoC), as people always do. This explosion would correspond to 45983275943 LoC falling on your head.

  18. Redmond, WA. by errxn · · Score: 2, Funny

    I mean, the Law of Averages would dictate that sooner or later, something has to crash into Redmond to compensate for all the things that crash coming *out*, right?

    --
    In Soviet Russia, Chuck Norris will still kick your ass.
  19. This is becoming routine... by guttentag · · Score: 3, Funny
    Once again, an asteroid-threat article's graphic blows the story out of proportion (yes, they included "Not to scale" this time, but how many people noticed?).

    Anyone remember this FUD from CNN three months and one day ago? That asteroid came from the direction of the sun as well.

    At any rate, our scientists are getting better. Last time they didn't know about the asteroid until four days after it missed us. This time they learned of the asteroid three days after the fact. At this rate, they should be able to tell us when we've been hit by a killer asteroid on the same day it hits us.