We're all gonna die!!...uhm...in 2014, that is.

[MrFun]

Any chance that this asteroid can just take out Texas?

[Qilue]

An analogy of an asteroid hitting the ocean. (someone with greater knowledge of scaling could give more accuracy)

Imagine shooting a rifle (.223 remington) vertically into a shallow pond (say 12cm deep). How much mud would be sprayed around?

Moral, there would be dust along with an extremely big tsunami. An asteroid impact on land would cause less damage (both short and long term) than one hitting the ocean.

Long term effects - First the dust would reduce sunlight below levels needed for photosynthesis, thus the plants and phyto-plankton would die. Then slowly up the food chain, each level would starve as it's food source died off. Also, with the carbon cycle broken, co2 levels would begin rising but not significantly enough to prevent a nuclear winter which would kill off almost everything else.

All is not lost since the cockroaches will most likely survive.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Qilue
An analogy of an asteroid hitting the ocean. (someone with greater knowledge of scaling could give more accuracy)

Imagine shooting a rifle (.223 remington) vertically into a shallow pond (say 12cm deep). How much mud would be sprayed around?

Moral, there would be dust along with an extremely big tsunami. An asteroid impact on land would cause less damage (both short and long term) than one hitting the ocean.

Long term effects - First the dust would reduce sunlight below levels needed for photosynthesis, thus the plants and phyto-plankton would die. Then slowly up the food chain, each level would starve as it's food source died off. Also, with the carbon cycle broken, co2 levels would begin rising but not significantly enough to prevent a nuclear winter which would kill off almost everything else.

All is not lost since the cockroaches will most likely survive.

cool

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

So all we need concern ourselves is knowing who the antiChrist will be. Should be rising to prominence and establsihing world peace (at least with Israel and the rest of the world) for seven years. The tribulation ensues. Eventually battle of Armageddon culminates with a large rock from the heavens being thrown down.

Any takers on who it will be?

[Geronimo]

I'm fairly sure that even an asteroid that has a larger diameter than the depth of the ocean where it impacts will still vaporize on impact in such a way that the overwhelming majority of the impact would be absorbed by the water rather than the sea floor. What you get is a stupendous steam explosion rather than a huge dust cloud of ocean floor thrown into the stratosphere. There would likely be tremendous disruption of the sea floor directly below impact but nothing at all like the sorts of clouds of dust that would result from a land impact. The tsunamis however would probably be so powerful as to not just obliterate every structure on every shore of the ocean of impact but also wreak lesser havoc on coastal settlements planetwide. I know I've seen some good web sites on this sort of asteroid collision what-if stuff. I'll see if i can dig them up again.

[Sarxis]

One of these days one of these NEOs will unexpectedly pop up from the far side of the moon.

"Oops! Didn't see that one coming."

Of course, the odds of that happening are... astronomical.

[Gatekeeper]

Well, at least it's less than a mile across. Humanity will survive if it hits, although the world afterwards probably won't be a very fun place to live in.

I really wish these scientists would keep it down until they're more sure if the damn thing is going to hit or miss us. It doesn't make much sense to sound the alarm when, by their own admission, they don't have enough data yet to make a firm judgment one way or another on what's going to happen.

Oh, and if it does hit, here's a vote for Antarctica.

Gatekeeper

[Dis]

Yes Antartica seems like a good choice. Though that would surely cause sea levels to rise at least it wouldn't block out the sun with dust.

[Dr. A. Cula]

I read some months ago about an asteroid that was supposed to hit Earth sometime in 2017, someshere in Western Europe. Is this the same one, or a new one? If not, what happened to the first one?

Anyway, I remember that, when I read about the first one, there was this bit about it being the first asteroid monitored by astronomers that had a bigger chance than 1 in a million to hit us. If this is a different asteroid, then I guess it's the second object that has a sizable chance to drop by.

[Dinner]

Just think of the massive orgies which would occur if people really thought the world was going to end. It would almost be worth it.

[Asmodean]

Why even bother to discuss where it's gonna hit. All the movies on this subject can't be wrong. It's gonna hit in, or in close proximity to, the good ole US of A.

Asmodean

[Stefu]

Well, at least it isn't a one in a million chance.

[Frozzy]

Cute.

[Skanky Burns]

I'd prefer it hit the arctic. Damn northern hemisphere bastards.

[Gatekeeper]

But Antarctica is mostly uninhabited by humans! Sure, it'd raise sea levels, but I don't live near a coastline, so big-whoo-de-doo! (Although it'd still raise hell with the weather patterns ... I might find myself living in a new Sahara Desert.)

"The Great American Breadbasket, er Desert"

Gatekeeper