Super comet

[Ric]

Hi all, did anyone see the Documentary/Drama called "Supercomet" last night on SBS?

I thought it was quite interesting in the way it dealt with the impact of an 8 kilometre sized comet upon the Earth. It covered all aspects from discovery to impact and then the after effects of the impact.

I thought it was quite well done without all the hype of Hollywood and no Mr Willis to save the day. I would be interested to hear what other members thought of it.

Cheers :)

[rwong]

Hi Ric

I saw it too and think it is a fantastic documentary. A bit depressed though. We shd never underestimate the power of nature.

Cheers:)

[CoombellKid]

Yup! the effect of such an impact look to be very impressive. Looking
forward to the next part.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

btw, part two is on tonight

regards,CS

[OneOfOne]

Haven't seen it yet. I recorded this, the doco on Stem Cells after it and another doco called "Watch the Skies"...didn't say what it was about so I just recorded it in case... Must say, these were the only things on TV for the whole day that was worth watching.

[Ric]

Thanks Rob, I didn't realise there was a second part to it. Geez I would have been spitting chips if I had of missed it.

Cheers

[Outbackmanyep]

I'd like to know if a comet that size could be pulled apart in Earth's Roche limit, and a comet being a relatively soft body and low density, how much of a difference would it make compared to the density of an asteroid?? I havent seen that show so i wouldn't know....

Is it possible to get Duncan Steel on IIS to elaborate on this??

Cheers!

[OneOfOne]

It was nice to see a show where the comet/asteroid was not "larger than the state of Texas"! Of course, the reality is that a comet of this size would almost certainly be discovered a long time before it got as close as they say in the show, and they wouldn't put all their eggs in one basket and launch a single nuclear warhead to divert it....only to miss. Of course, if they would have no story if they hit it!

Otherwise, it was a great show.

[Outbackmanyep]

Its the comets you can't see that are the dangerous ones! I reckon 8 months warning wouldn't even be enough, just look at some of the discovery dates of some comets and perihelion can be much sooner rather than later, a comet like P1 McNaught....Discovered 5 1/2 months before perihelion!
Doesn't give us much time to prepare!

[CoombellKid]

Actually I thought the warhead looked a little unfactual. I mean if the
Comet was 8kms dia, to me the explosion it looked a little small.

Apart from that I really enjoyed the program, wouldn't mind the DVD.

regards,CS

[Ric]

The aftermath was very interesting, it is pretty much how I would imagine things to proceed. We would all have to start from scratch again.
I don't like that EM pulse though, that means no GOTO on the scope :scared: :lol:
but then again it won't matter with that sort of cloud/dust cover.

Cheers

[xelasnave]

We need to build battle stars and have the opportunity of moving someplace else... one day it will happen ..the dinasours although around for 150 million years were presumed ( and there is fair evidence) to have had their rein ended by a blow from heaven and being the first species to have the potential to move we do little other than wring our hands...
alex

[astro_nutt]

I enjoyed the program..and it is a sobering reminder to the human race that we are at the mercy of greater forces which we can only bear witness to....Detection, time remaining and point of impact is what we can achieve now..but deflecting or stopping the threat..and if that fails...a plan to ensure preserverence is what we need to work on...
Just an open question...if we knew that an impact was to happen in 6 months..how would any of you prepare to cope with the changes that may happen?

[higginsdj]

I didn't see the show but by the sounds of the descriptions above it is rubbish.
1. It is a known fact that ANY nuclear missile attack on such a body is a complete waste of time. The only effect such a weapon will have is to irradiate the target. Nuclear bombs explosive power comes from pressure waves - ie air. There is no air in space so no shockwave....

2. Anything over 1km in size will most likely kill all life on earth. The debris raised into the outer atmosphere (and beyond) will rain back down over the entire surface at temperatures exceeding 1000c raising the ambient temperature of the earth atmosphere well beyond that capable of turning the earths surface into a cinder.

Have a read of Ducan Steeles book - Rogue Asteroids and Doomsday Comets. (I don't think I exaggerated anything - but I am working from memory - I do know that the Nuclear Missile bit is correct)

Cheers

[CoombellKid]

They're having a hard enough time building a little space station let alone
a battle star lol. And we would probably need to mine materials from else
where in the solar system to build one big enough. But then I guess it'll
come down to the have's and the have not's. The have's will wreck the
Earth completely and leave it for the have not's.

regards,CS

[higginsdj]

Hey they can travel out to the comet and mine it! :)

[CoombellKid]

Yeah! and turn it into a meteor and save the world :thumbsup:

regards,CS

[Kal]

I think you may be a little off here. Impacts of the 1 kilometer in size (asteroids and/or comets) occur on earth about once every million years (several sources on the internet will state this, including a NASA link here (http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/back2.html)).

A supercomputer simulation of a 1 kilometer impact can be read here (http://www.sandia.gov/media/comet.htm) as well. While devastating, it most certainly won't kill off all life on earth.

[Ric]

If the impact was going to occur in Australia I cant see any point in doing much at all as our time is probably up. If the impact is further away and the chance of survival is better I would stock up with vegetable seeds of as many varieties as possible. That way after everything clears I could grow my own food.

Cheers:)

[higginsdj]

Although modern theory may suggest that larger targets are required to devastate the earth (scientists have been arguing for years over size) the 1km limit was chosen by the majority of scientists and adopted for Spaceguard purposes. I didn't see any reference in either article stating that a 1km object would not cause global catastrophe!

But arguing over size is rather irrelevant as it is just theory (and supercomputers don't know any better than the theory they are fed) ;)

Cheers

[CoombellKid]

Man I must get Ducan Steeles book, one read of that and it sounds
like you become a @%#&ing expert!!

regards,CS

[abellhunter]

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Well, said! Comet McNaught was a ((((( WAKE-UP CALL )))))

Did not see the comet show, but this may be of some
intrest:

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A Tail of Three Comets!

By July of 1994 i had my two observatories
up and running for 5 years. The Hubble
space telescope was up and running too.
Every scope on the planet big and
small was ready. Yes, the most awesome
spectacle any astronomer could ever
imagine: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.

It was discovered just 3 mountain ridges
away from my Anza observatory, by the team
working on Palomar mountain. Even today
i can clearly recall the first evening
of the first impact. It hit the back
side just around the limb and took
only a few minutes to come into
view by Jupiter's rotation.

It was a large well defined black and
gray circular blotch, that had a very
deep black semi circle under it, like
a shock wave. From July 16th until
July 21st 1994 i sat with my 4" f15
Unitron, a C-11, and the 17 1/2 inch
dob and just marveled!

i made well over 100 sketches of the
impacts and their changes into August.
i was totally amazed as was the entire
astronomical community!

In September 2005, 10 years after SL-9
hit Jupiter i had the great honor to
meet David Levy. We met under the
southern skies, on the shores of
Lake Titicaca, at 12,500 feet in
the Bolivian Andes. There i presented
him copies of over 100 detailed
sketches that i made of his comet.
Along with all of my detailed notes
and descriptions.Funny thing, when
i handed the logbook and sketches
to him he had on a shirt that said:
"My Damm Comet Crashed!".

Then in Japan on January 30, 1996,
a amateur using six inch binoculars
was out to check on a comet he had
found in '95. As Yuji sweep the area
he found yet another comet, that would
later be known as the Great Comet of
1996, Comet Hyakutake 1996B2.

By March-April of '96 this was a huge
monster! It's thin tail as seen from
my observatory in Anza was at times
an honest 50 degrees long! The nucleus
and coma had details that i had never
seen in any comet before. The jets,
the hoods, the streamers off the head
were mind blowing. The sheer size of
the head was two or three times the
size of a full moon. Just flat out
jaw dropping!

As i sat there with this new monster
comet and both it's naked eye view
and the image i was seeing in the
17 1/2 dob at high power. i could
not help but think how truly awesome
this thing was. And how in such
a very very short time it had come
down on us. i mean, from Jan. 30th
when it was 1st spotted until March
only weeks later when it was LARGE,
until early/mid April when it came
so close to the earth it made me
shutter.

Remember this is on the heels of
Comet Shoemaker Levy 9's extraordinary
crash into Jupiter! my mind was
totally reeling! i could easily
take that image that i was looking
at in the big scope and transpose
that on the sky of a comet coming
straight in at us. i could imagine
the fear that humanity would be
under. But as an amateur astronomer,
sitting in his own observatory, i
thought to myself what a spectacular
way for an "Observer" to go!
What else could you do i thought,
this has been such a life long
passion, sit back and realize
that this is the best way to go.
While everyone is in terror just
partake in the most awesome sight
imaginable!

On July 1995 two Americans found the
next Great Comet. Known as The Great
Comet of 1997, Hale-Bopp. By March
of 1997 everyone knew we had yet
another naked eye comet to feast
on. From March through May the
Great Comet was both a morning
and evening object.

Its tail was bright and fan shaped
with both red blue & green color to
it. As with Hyakutake, i took many
piggy back photos on the C-11
with 100-200mm telephoto lenses.
And some great tripod shots with
a 50mm set up with mountain ridges
and pine trees in the foreground.
Again i can not help but think of
how great my timing was to be in
just the right place at the right
time! How could i ever have known
that when i took that huge step
in moving away from the city,
that these events would come
to pass?

i just wanted to leave the rat race
and be with nature under the Milky Way.
The way that things turned out with a
comfortable observatory under great
dark skies was just too much!

All i can say is, Every Day's a

:DB O N U S ~ D A Y !:D

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
May you & yours always be in fine health and
great calm, with gratitude and warm aloha,

Lance aka "abellhunter":D
http://www.anzaobservatory.com
...is Moving to the Southern Hemisphere any ideas, suggestions or
comments?
humphreys@greencafe.com

p.s. bellow is a shot of the observatory where i viewed the "Tails of Three Comets" from (Southern California) Then 3 shots of Comet McNaught:eyepop: (NOTE the mosaic of Northern & Southern Hemisphere images to show all the tail!)
and the last shot is: Meteor Crater in the Arizona desert.:scared: