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Do you want to know? If an large asteroid goes undetected like that one, but say it’s 5 days, 9 hours from impact. Do you want to know that?
A) There’s nothing anyone could do about it. The only thing they can currently do is launch a nuclear weapons in space at it that will blow it up into some pieces, but those pieces will still fall to earth.
B) That wouldn’t be enough time currently to intercept it anyway.
Astrophysicists used to think that the cosmos would reach the limit of its expansion, then begin to contract. So from the Big Bang to the Big Crush.
But more recent evidence has largely disproved that. These days, astrophysicists think the universe is just going to keep stretching out forever until there is literally light years between every atom. It will be a cold blackness, devoid of light and heat.
But who knows? More evidence may come to light tomorrow, suggesting some new theory.
We have COVID and the possibility of a lockdown and people go crazy, panic buying water, toilet paper and non-perishables. Can you imagine what it would be like if they announced a pending world ending disaster?
Astrophysicists used to think that the cosmos would reach the limit of its expansion, then begin to contract. So from the Big Bang to the Big Crush.
But more recent evidence has largely disproved that. These days, astrophysicists think the universe is just going to keep stretching out forever until there is literally light years between every atom. It will be a cold blackness, devoid of light and heat.
But who knows? More evidence may come to light tomorrow, suggesting some new theory.
What you just described is the Heat Death of the universe. It means that the universe will keep on expanding until everything is stretched so far out, that matter can’t interact anymore. Heat death implies that heat transfer can no longer occur as a process.
There are three known end scenarios for the universe:
Big Crunch: universe stops expanding and collapses in on itself
Big Rip: the accelerated expansion causes all matter at the subatomic level to shatter
Big Freeze (Heat Death): expansion pushes objects far apart from one another
We have COVID and the possibility of a lockdown and people go crazy, panic buying water, toilet paper and non-perishables. Can you imagine what it would be like if they announced a pending world ending disaster?
That is a great point!
Im thinking of times in the winter too, when a big snow is forecasted, people go NUTS with panic shopping, I guess they are worried they will be stuck in their homes for weeks on end with no way to get out. LOL
Imo, if they announced a world ending disaster event...lets say 2 weeks before it arrives, I think society would break down almost instantly, the news would spread VERY fast, I think crime would increase 1000% that day alone. I think most people would leave their jobs or whatever they are doing and go home, or try to gather together as families, churches would probably be PACKED FULL 24/7, with lines waiting to get in, extending for blocks.
I think the govt would try to keep the peace, but Im not sure the National Guard or even regular military would be operational at that point, to send into cities to help keep the peace, (soldiers would want to be with their families as well), I assume local and state police, it would be the same thing...There would definitely be concerns over peoples safety, but as far as looting, stealing, even robbing banks, etc....whats the point of stopping any of that, (or really even committing those crimes).
I think the govt would probably plead with people to just stay home, spend the remaining time with family or friends.
Im thinking of times in the winter too, when a big snow is forecasted, people go NUTS with panic shopping, I guess they are worried they will be stuck in their homes for weeks on end with no way to get out. LOL
Imo, if they announced a world ending disaster event...lets say 2 weeks before it arrives, I think society would break down almost instantly, the news would spread VERY fast, I think crime would increase 1000% that day alone. I think most people would leave their jobs or whatever they are doing and go home, or try to gather together as families, churches would probably be PACKED FULL 24/7, with lines waiting to get in, extending for blocks.
I think the govt would try to keep the peace, but Im not sure the National Guard or even regular military would be operational at that point, to send into cities to help keep the peace, (soldiers would want to be with their families as well), I assume local and state police, it would be the same thing...There would definitely be concerns over peoples safety, but as far as looting, stealing, even robbing banks, etc....whats the point of stopping any of that, (or really even committing those crimes).
I think the govt would probably plead with people to just stay home, spend the remaining time with family or friends.
Yeah I think churches would be packed, but also people would indulge in their darkest fantasies or crazy ideas, figuring what do they have to lose.
I think it would be like the walking dead minus the zombies, in a short period of time.
I think the Space Forum considers themselves too sensible and scientific to discuss something like this.
Would we be told of impending total or partial doom?
I dont think we would, and I also dont think many government officials would be told either. Mainly because they would tell their nearest and dearest and the word would soon get out to the general population, causing widespread panic buying and traffic jams. Apart from the fact that we probably dont know about these asteroid things early enough to do any good by telling people.
So, we only get told AFTER the event which MIGHT have happened. Big Deal. We are not dead, so we get to hear about it.
I cannot believe that no-one knew about this asteroid which passed really close to Earth last Sunday. However, it was not large enough to 'land' they say. Do you believe them?
I read about that asteroid online or heard it on the news a couple of days before it passed. I wondered if it would hit earth but since there wasn't anything I could do about it, I didn't worry about it. As a matter of fact I had forgotten all about it until you mentioned it here. So, the news was out there about it. It was just buried under social unrest, the convention coverage and Covid updates.
Earth has "near misses" all the time. For an asteroid impact to be truly catastrophic, it would have be a pretty massive rock, which means we'd likely see it coming.
Would we be able to do anything about it in time? Not likely, considering the current state of our space program.
Honestly though, I don't spend much time worrying about asteroids. In the previous millions years, catastrophic collisions have only happened a few times. A new virus, nuclear weapon attacks, mass civil unrest, and economic collapse are far more likely to occur in our lifetime.
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