From the Sun Of London---An asteroid has been discovered that might impact Earth in 2022. The giant rock was spotted on Jan. 28 by Proffesor Andrea Milani,he stated,"avablie observations are not enough to exclude a future impact,I rate thi as scientifically urgent. The Asteroid named 2000 BF19 is thought to be 1km in diameter. the impact of an asteroid this size,traveling at 15 miles a second, would be the equivalent of the detonation of 50,ooo H-bombs.Last month the British Gov't set up a task force to study and assess the risks---source, todays drudge report. "seems that all the Preps wouldn't do a bit of good for this potential scenerio!" So eat em up by 2021.

-- Merek (Merek@aloha.net), February 08, 2000

Answers

Hopefully the asteroid will hit this forum.

-- (You@re.morons), February 08, 2000.

Don't worry, 3/4 of humanity will be dead by then because of resource consumption and pollution.

Optimistic Kook

-- Y2Kook (Y2Kook@usa.net), February 08, 2000.

Statisticly speaking, I'll be dead by 2021 so I don't give a rats ass.

-- i'manidiot (idiot@dot.com), February 08, 2000.

Ultimate? Nah! Heat death of the universe - now there's the ultimate doomer story!

-- Brian McLaughlin (brianm@ims.com), February 08, 2000.

Hmm, from what I've been reading of potentially hazardous Near Earth Objects (what this asteroid is) a one kilometer asteroid may push civilization on this planet to the ragged edge but it probably won't be the end of the human species.

Naturally, everything depends on precisely where the thing is going to hit. If you're on the other side of the planet, not in a coastal or low-lying area, on an earthquake fault, near an active (or dormant) volcano, not downstream of a dam nor live in a highly populated area then your chances of surviving are pretty good IF you've prepped. If you haven't you'll be in the company of the billions of others who didn't. You'll be dead, but you'll have lots of company.

Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle wrote two very good stories concerning this sort of scenario. The first is Lucifer's Hammer dealing with a partial strike by a comet and the other is Footfall dealing with the intentional bombardment of the Earth with a large asteroid as an act of war by an invading extraterrestial species.

I don't recognize the designation number of this asteroid, looks like it's time to get out and do some research. Gotta link?

.........Alan.

The Providence Cooperative - free survivalism and preparedness FAQ's

http://www.providenceco-op.com

-- A.T. Hagan (athagan@netscape.net), February 10, 2000.

Well, the original thread about this asteroid is filed under "survivalist issues" for some reason. Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com)posted a follow up story in that thread that they've gotten enough data now to calculate a fairly sizable miss for this one.

New data says a miss is as good as 3.5 million miles

New Data

link: http://www.seattletimes.com/news/nation-world/html98/aste_200 00209.html

It now appears that this one won't even be close. Let's see what tomorrow brings.

Best wishes,,,,

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), February 09, 2000.

That's the fourth or fifth one that'll miss us by a relatively close margin (astronomically speaking) that we've discovered so far. Starting to look like we really need to put more effort into finding and tracking these things.

..........Alan.

-- A.T. Hagan (athagan@netscape.net), February 10, 2000.