Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko sitting on downtown LA

Winston said:

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Oh, that's going to leave a mark...

Is this a limited time appearance, or will it be there for a while? I would like to get out to see it sometime. :tongue:

Wow, that's amazing. I didn't know LA had a downtown area. I thought it was just spread out over a thousand square miles.

I'de rather see it "Cop a Squat" somewhere in the Middle East, but LA is a good start.

DaveHein said:

Wow, that's amazing. I didn't know LA had a downtown area. I thought it was just spread out over a thousand square miles.

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Well, it used to have a downtown until someone squashed it with a comet.

farsidius said:

Is this a limited time appearance, or will it be there for a while? I would like to get out to see it sometime. :tongue:

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Since it's melting and sublimating, bring your own diving gear and wet suit. Between the heavier-than-air CO2 hugging the ground and the ice water, that might be the best choice. Note that hard hats are ineffective against falling icebergs.

It gives a nice (awesome) sense of scale. The Chicxulub impactor that did the coup de grace bit on the dinos was at least three times that size.

Learn to swim.

How about over Las Vegas?? It would provide a sort of "Biblical ending" to the place...

(bonus points for what movie that line is from...)

Later! OL JR

Favorite all time movie The Stand. I was in love With Molly Ringwald

Winston said:

Since it's melting and sublimating, bring your own diving gear and wet suit. Between the heavier-than-air CO2 hugging the ground and the ice water, that might be the best choice. Note that hard hats are ineffective against falling icebergs.

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It's a new approach to drought relief.

luke strawwalker said:

How about over Las Vegas?? It would provide a sort of "Biblical ending" to the place...

(bonus points for what movie that line is from...)

Later! OL JR

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Wargames spoken by Dr. Stephen Falken (John Wood)

I loved it when you nuked Las Vegas. Suitably biblical ending to the place, don't you think?

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Extinction level event.

Insects will become the dominant species on the planet in the aftermath.

Christo reports there is no truth to the rumour he is going to wrap the comet in a seal-a-meal bag.......

I'll have to ask my son to go outside and look for the comet- they are normally hard to see thru the LA smog!

K'Tesh said:

Wargames spoken by Dr. Stephen Falken (John Wood)

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Correcto!

You just won a rubber tortilla....

( let's see if you know that one...)

Later! OL JR

That is the Rosetta Comet, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It is 4 km wide which is about 2.5 miles. It is moving up to five times faster than the International Space Station, which orbits about 17,000 miles per hour, or about 85,000 miles per hour. Humans have not built anything that has achieved that speed.[1]

At 85,000 miles per hour it punches through our atmosphere in a fraction of a second. On land it makes a crater about 14 miles in diameter. Standing 200 miles away it creates 3rd degree burns on the body and paper, grass, trees and plywood ignites. About a minute later the ground shakes which causes moderate damage to structures. Fifteen minutes after the quake the air blast arrives knocking wood frame buildings and 90% of all trees down. The blast is equal to 600,000 megatons of nuclear bombs all going off at one place, instantaneously.

:hot::hot:Everything within a 200 mile radius of where it hit is a flattened, burning pile of scattered debris.:hot::hot:​

Why am I telling you this?

Because....................

I'm selling Apocalyptic Survival Kits on the side, both individual and family sizes.
:wink:

[1]Clicky

ermmmm.....are they not the dominant species now??!?!?

o1d_dude said:

Extinction level event.

Insects will become the dominant species on the planet in the aftermath.

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RandyT0001 said:

That is the Rosetta Comet, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It is 4 km wide which is about 2.5 miles. It is moving up to five times faster than the International Space Station, which orbits about 17,000 miles per hour, or about 85,000 miles per hour. Humans have not built anything that has achieved that speed.

At 85,000 miles per hour it punches through our atmosphere in a fraction of a second. On land it makes a crater about 14 miles in diameter. Standing 200 miles away it creates 3rd degree burns on the body and paper, grass, trees and plywood ignites. About a minute later the ground shakes which causes moderate damage to structures. Fifteen minutes after the quake the air blast arrives knocking wood frame buildings and 90% of all trees down. The blast is equal to 600,000 megatons of nuclear bombs all going off at one place, instantaneously.

:hot::hot:Everything within a 200 mile radius of where it hit is a flattened, burning pile of scattered debris.:hot::hot:​

Why am I telling you this?

Because....................

I'm selling Apocalyptic Survival Kits on the side, both individual and family sizes.
:wink:

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Cool. Found this calculator, different than the one I found years ago that I prefer, but I can't find now:

https://www.purdue.edu/impactearth

Input data:

3.5km dia (comet is very irregular shape, so went with this approximation)
102 Kg/m^3 density (latest estimate)
24 mi/s velocity
45 deg. impact angle
Sedimentary rock
Witness 200 mi. from impact point

Energy before atmospheric entry: 6.59 x 10^20 Joules = 1.58 x 10^5 MegaTons TNT.

The average interval between impacts of this size somewhere on Earth during the last 4 billion years is 1.1 x 10^6 years.

Transient Crater Diameter: 10.3 km ( = 6.39 miles )

Transient Crater Depth: 3.64 km ( = 2.26 miles )

Final Crater Diameter: 14 km ( = 8.7 miles )

Final Crater Depth: 655 meters ( = 2150 feet ); The crater formed is a complex crater.

The volume of the target melted or vaporized is 3.63 km^3 ( = 0.871 miles^3 )

Roughly half the melt remains in the crater, where its average thickness is 43.6 meters ( = 143 feet ).

The ejecta will arrive approximately 4.4 minutes after the impact.

At your position there is a fine dusting of ejecta with occasional larger fragments.

Average Ejecta Thickness: 3 mm ( = 1.18 tenths of an inch )

Mean Fragment Diameter: 4.03 mm ( = 1.59 tenths of an inch )

Time for maximum radiation: 742 milliseconds after impact

Visible fireball radius: 8.51 km ( = 5.29 miles )

The fireball appears 6.01 times larger than the sun

Thermal Exposure: 1.07 x 10^6 Joules/m^2

Duration of Irradiation: 3.61 minutes

Radiant flux (relative to the sun): 4.95

Effects of Thermal Radiation: Much of the body suffers first degree burns.

The major seismic shaking will arrive approximately 1.07 minutes after impact.

Richter Scale Magnitude: 8

Mercalli Scale Intensity at a distance of 322 km: Felt by all, many frightened. Some heavy furniture moved; a few instances of fallen plaster. Damage slight. Damage negligible in buildings of good design and construction; slight to moderate in well-built ordinary structures; considerable damage in poorly built or badly designed structures; some chimneys broken.

The air blast will arrive approximately 16.3 minutes after impact.

Peak Overpressure: 18400 Pa = 0.184 bars = 2.61 psi

Max wind velocity: 40.3 m/s = 90.2 mph

Sound Intensity: 85 dB (Loud as heavy traffic)

Damage Description: Glass windows will shatter.

About 30 percent of trees blown down; remainder have some branches and leaves blown off.

It would have better accuracy if one could input the measured or estimated mass of the impacting object instead of width and density inputs. I used an older version of that app and set it at 90 degrees. A higher angle and an extra 500 meters of width makes a big difference.

"Today's News.. a comet has struck Los Angeles...officials estimate 500 million dollars worth of improvements..."
"Next up-the Traffic Report: There is none."

RandyT0001 said:

or about 85,000 miles per hour. Humans have not built anything that has achieved that speed.

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According to Wikipedia entry about the Helios spacecraft, it achieved 157,000 mph.

Judging from the data above, this impact would make a great movie, but if it were to land on LA, the picture might need to be produced in Bollywood.

Here is what the comet impact might look like, and the resulting disaster:

[video=youtube;DcJ31-D_Iwk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcJ31-D_Iwk[/video]

Mushtang said:

According to Wikipedia entry about the Helios spacecraft, it achieved 157,000 mph.

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:rant:What are you doing? Trying to ruin my sales?:rant:
:wink:

RandyT0001 said:

:rant:What are you doing? Trying to ruin my sales?:rant:
:wink:

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Nah. The Helios spacecraft isn't heading this direction, attempting to kill us all like the comet is. You should still sell a lot of kits and be plenty rich when you vaporize.