Did anyone notice the asteroid that hit Earth?

[Michael L]

Technically it didn't actually hit. At least they don't think it did.

10 mile (oops, 10 foot is the actual size) diameter rock slams into the Earths atmosphere

Slams

 

[SDramstad]

That should be 10 foot diameter....

 

[Michael L]

Corrected but I thought it was funny so I left the mistake, that I made.

 

[Hobie1dog]

I felt a little bump

 

[MClark]

"An astronomer discovered an asteroid approximately 2 hours before it struck Earth’s atmosphere"
Not much time for Bruce Willis to save us.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

I wondered why I woke up extinct.

 

[Funkworks]

Since it added its mass to the Earth ☄, I guess we're all a bit heavier today.

 

[lakeroadster]

Louise Ciccone saw it, way back in 1984..

 

[Johnly]

Did they call it an asteroid rather than meteor for shock value?

 

[boomtube-mk2]

While mass is important, velocity is the killer.

A measly 10tons if moving at 40% light speed would have 25% more kinetic energy than the impact that brought about the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Thankfully there isn't that many things swanning around the Milky Way moving at those velocities.

 

[Mushtang]

Ugh!!!

"Its flight through our atmosphere would have caused all or part of this small asteroid to vaporize due to friction with the air. "

The website says that the author has been a science writer specializing in astronomy for more than two decades. That's long enough to know better.

It's not due to friction. It's air compression which caused the temperature to go up so high that the asteroid vaporized.

 

[Steven]

I thought my Z4 ran over a speed bump.

 

[Michael L]

Ugh!!!

"Its flight through our atmosphere would have caused all or part of this small asteroid to vaporize due to friction with the air. "

The website says that the author has been a science writer specializing in astronomy for more than two decades. That's long enough to know better.

It's not due to friction. It's air compression which caused the temperature to go up so high that the asteroid vaporized.

She's never been "well respected" for her writing but she does manage to get the scoop on things. In this case, a member of the Houston Astronomical Society scooped her. He's always on the lookout for findings like this one... but never sensationalizes it.

While mass is important, velocity is the killer.

A measly 10tons if moving at 40% light speed would have 25% more kinetic energy than the impact that brought about the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Thankfully there isn't that many things swanning around the Milky Way moving at those velocities.

So that's why my 300 gr .338 bullet is stable and the 64 gr. .223 is slave to the least amount of wind. I wouldn't want to get hit with either but the odds are in favor of the much heavier projectile...

 

[Marc_G]

I noticed it but thought my wife had just farted.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

I

I noticed it but thought my wife had just farted.

Is that what made the dinosaurs eh-stinked?

 

[MidOH]

While mass is important, velocity is the killer.

A measly 10tons if moving at 40% light speed would have 25% more kinetic energy than the impact that brought about the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Thankfully there isn't that many things swanning around the Milky Way moving at those velocities.

Maybe where we are. Closer to the drain, I imagine it's a bit more sporty.

 

[boomtube-mk2]

Maybe where we are. Closer to the drain, I imagine it's a bit more sporty.

If by "Drain" you mean the Super-Massive Black Hole at the center of the galaxy and the Shell-Stars that surround it, you'd be correct.
Half or more of the stars in the Milky Way lie within the Shapley Center, that big bright ball around which all the spiral arms rotate.
Some believe that at the inner edge of the Center, stars might be just light hours from each other and thus the odds of them having planetary systems is virtually zero.

So, when we start trying to calculate the likelihood of "Life in the Milky Way we can start by removing half the total stars in this galaxy right from the equation before we even begin.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

If by "Drain" you mean the Super-Massive Black Hole at the center of the galaxy and the Shell-Stars that surround it, you'd be correct.
Half or more of the stars in the Milky Way lie within the Shapley Center, that big bright ball around which all the spiral arms rotate.
Some believe that at the inner edge of the Center, stars might be just light hours from each other and thus the odds of them having planetary systems is virtually zero.

So, when we start trying to calculate the likelihood of "Life in the Milky Way we can start by removing half the total stars in this galaxy right from the equation before we even begin.

The reason the Center is so popular, and everyone is circling around it, is because it is so Shapely.

 

[boomtube-mk2]

The reason the Center is so popular, and everyone is circling around it, is because it is so Shapely.

I have sex daily . . . I mean dyslexia and
sometimes Auto Correct is not your friend.

 

[stealth6]

ssixsixsix

 

[Michael L]

Much better unit of measure: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...st-Iceland.html?ito=social-twitter_mailonline

 

[Hobie1dog]

 

[viney266]

JUst in time to get my helmet on./

 

[Peartree]

This has probably been noted upthread, but the big deal about this particular meteorite was that it was only the fifth in history to be detected BEFORE it impacted the earth. Granted it was detected only hours before impact, but still an accomplishment of sorts.

 

[jqavins]

Did they call it an asteroid rather than meteor for shock value?

An object is a meteor while it's moving through the atmosphere, a meteorite after it hits the ground, and a meteoroid before it enters the atmosphere. Does anyone here know the actual technical difference between a meteoroid that's an asteroid and one that "just a rock"? (Most are actually just sand grain size.)

 

[boomtube-mk2]

JUst in time to get my helmet on./

Is your helmet perhaps lined with, tinfoil?

 

[Funkworks]

An object is a meteor while it's moving through the atmosphere, a meteorite after it hits the ground, and a meteoroid before it enters the atmosphere. Does anyone here know the actual technical difference between a meteoroid that's an asteroid and one that "just a rock"? (Most are actually just sand grain size.)

An asteroid is what a rock is called when it's not expected to hit the ground (and generally orbiting something).

That's right "rock". It's all just rocks and the name of the rock (from asteroid to meteoroid to meteor to meteorite) only indicates where it is on its path.

And for what it's worth, these rocks are Lego bricks to build a planet. A whole bunch of these coming together over many years is all you need to build a moon, planet or even star.

 

[jqavins]

An asteroid is what a rock is called when it's not expected to hit the ground (and generally orbiting something).

Thanks. So "asteroid" was definitely wrong in this case, since it certainly was expected to hit something.

even star.

Umm, I don't know how much rocky stuff (silicon, oxygen, iron, carbon, etc.) can go into a star, but one certainly needs a whole lot more hydrogen than is found in rocks. Unless rocks have quite a few orders of magnitude more hydrogen than I think they do.

 

[Funkworks]

Thanks. So "asteroid" was definitely wrong in this case, since it certainly was expected to hit something.

Umm, I don't know how much rocky stuff (silicon, oxygen, iron, carbon, etc.) can go into a star, but one certainly needs a whole lot more hydrogen than is found in rocks. Unless rocks have quite a few orders of magnitude more hydrogen than I think they do.

"Rock" is a wild card. We're not saying what they contain (rock = solid chunk of massive atoms). And by "star" I mean big enough for gravity at the center to start some kind of ignition (everything between hydrogen and iron can be consumed, up to iron). The rate of accretion (at which mass falls) and specific rock composition will have a say as to what the mass should eventually be called and how it will behave, but it can get complicated so I just call small masses "planets" and big masses "stars" (unless someone wants to get jiggy with it and sort out details).

 

[jqavins]

Generally, not much is fused in a star beyond 3He → C before it goes nova. (I didn't say "nothing", I said "not much". Yes, there is the CNO cycle.) Yes, anything short of ⁵⁶Fe can be fused releasing energy, but it's not what happens in stars.