We're gonna need one big ass baseball bat.

**Articulate_Ape** · 03-04-2012, 03:44 PM

Blast it or paint it: Asteroid to threaten Earth in 2013
Published: 3 March, 2012, 22:32
Edited: 4 March, 2012, 19:23

To avert a possible catastrophe – this time set for February 2013 – scientists suggest confronting asteroid 2012 DA14 with either paint or big guns. The stickler is that time has long run out to build a spaceship to carry out the operation.
NASA's data shows the 60-meter asteroid, spotted by Spanish stargazers in February, will whistle by Earth in 11 months. Its trajectory will bring it within a hair’s breadth of our planet, raising fears of a possible collision.

The asteroid, known as DA14, will pass by our planet in February 2013 at a distance of under 27,000 km (16,700 miles). This is closer than the geosynchronous orbit of some satellites.

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**Rockntractor** · 03-04-2012, 03:55 PM

Smear it with Preparation H and it will shrink.

**Articulate_Ape** · 03-04-2012, 04:12 PM

Originally Posted by Rockntractor

Smear it with Preparation H and it will shrink.

JB · 03-04-2012, 08:32 PM

60 meters? That's it?

I'll hide underneath Porky O'Donnell. Should provide enough cover.

**AmPat** · 03-05-2012, 02:11 AM

O Blah Blah can promise it some personal speech time when it arrives. It'll steer itself away for sure.

**djones520** · 03-05-2012, 02:18 AM

So we got 11 months? Wonder how they plan on painting it, or shooting it. In that time frame. Congress will still be arguing about funding by next Feb.

**DumbAss Tanker** · 03-05-2012, 12:31 PM

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/

Check NASA's JPL site. It's at the top of the list of 'Recently observed objects,' but with a threat rating of zero. The most significant threats are in 2040 and 2048 from considerably larger objects shown in the table below that one. The "Magnitude" variable is actually inversely proportional to physical size, i.e. a larger number means a smaller object. You wouldn't want to be in the immediate area hit by DA14, but it isn't 'Global cataclysm' size, either.

**AmPat** · 03-05-2012, 12:33 PM

Originally Posted by DumbAss Tanker

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/

Check NASA's JPL site. It's at the top of the list of 'Recently observed objects,' but with a threat rating of zero. The most significant threats are in 2040 and 2048 from considerably larger objects shown in the table below that one. The "Magnitude" variable is actually inversely proportional to physical size, i.e. a larger number means a smaller object. You wouldn't want to be in the immediate area hit by DA14, but it isn't 'Global cataclysm' size, either.

I bet it's big enough to cause globull warming!

**noonwitch** · 03-05-2012, 12:40 PM

There's a Simpsons episode about this, and Homer tells everyone that the comet will break up in the atmosphere and end up being small when it hits Springfield. When it happens that way, everyone is scared because Homer was actually right about it.

**DumbAss Tanker** · 03-05-2012, 12:42 PM

Originally Posted by AmPat

I bet it's big enough to cause globull warming!

I'm sure the Libs would say so, but any significant impact big enough to kick the molten ejecta suborbital is likely to first cause a lot of fires where the big stuff comes down and a major heat bump for a short period, followed very quickly by a protracted drastic temperature drop because of all the finer particulate material suspended in the upper atmosphere for a few years. So we'll get 'globull' warming AND cooling, and it'll all be Bush's fault.