Re:A small asteroid (~5 m) will hit Sudan on 2008 Oct 07 024...
by petercooper on Monday October 06, 2008 @08:55PM
(#325517)
Poor headline. It might hit Sudanese airspace, but not "Sudan" as in the land forming that country. It might not even high Sudanese airspace, as it'll burn up in the "upper atmosphere."
Re:A small asteroid (~5 m) will hit Sudan on 2008 Oct 07 024...
by jbyers on Monday October 06, 2008 @07:55PM
(#325469)
This little asteroid will be 5 m(eters) in diameter, quite a lot less than 15 m(iles) in diameter. :)
Note that if we're talking about the asteroid that created the Chicxulub crater, most references seem to have the size a bit smaller, ~6 miles in diameter. Still, that's a big rock.
Re:A small asteroid (~5 m) will hit Sudan on 2008 Oct 07 024...
by timtrueman on Monday October 06, 2008 @08:15PM
(#325490)
"Objects of this size would be expected to enter the Earth's atmosphere every few months on average but this is the first time such an event has been predicted ahead of time."
Re:A small asteroid (~5 m) will hit Sudan on 2008 Oct 07 024...
by maxklein on Monday October 06, 2008 @06:33PM
(#325406)
Oh yes, the poor population of Sudan, huddled together on 5 meters of ground, and that is the exact 5 meters that gets hit by an asteroid. What are the odds?
Re:A small asteroid (~5 m) will hit Sudan on 2008 Oct 07 024...
by maxklein on Tuesday October 07, 2008 @04:56AM
(#325559)
Well, we're talking in different terms here. I happen to be aware how the geography and population density of Sudan looks like. It's a huge country with lots of desert and a very low population density in most of the area. I could drop Switzerland on top of Sudan and only a few goats would blink.
This is an example of miscommunication based on assumed knowledge.
Re:A small asteroid (~5 m) will hit Sudan on 2008 Oct 07 024...
by run4yourlives on Tuesday October 07, 2008 @11:52AM
(#325771)
You do realize that we're talking nuclear bomb type levels of energy here... even if Sudan is an African Canada, random nukes do have consequences. :-)
According to that Wikipedia article, kiloton-range bolides (airburst meteors) typically occur on Earth more than once per year.
A stony meteoroid of about 10 metres (30 ft) in diameter can produce an explosion of around 20 kilotons, similar to that of the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki, and data released by the U.S. Air Force's Defense Support Program indicate that such explosions occur high in the upper atmosphere more than once a year.
"hit Sudan" is not as precise as "hit Earth this morning, Oct. 7th, and exploded in the atmosphere over northern Sudan." http://www.spaceweather.com/
Note that if we're talking about the asteroid that created the Chicxulub crater, most references seem to have the size a bit smaller, ~6 miles in diameter. Still, that's a big rock.
Minor Planet Electronic Circular http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/mpec/K08/K08T50.html
Aside: Poor (people of) Sudan. Like that country needs more issues.
That's pretty significant/awesome.
This is an example of miscommunication based on assumed knowledge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event
.
According to that Wikipedia article, kiloton-range bolides (airburst meteors) typically occur on Earth more than once per year.
A stony meteoroid of about 10 metres (30 ft) in diameter can produce an explosion of around 20 kilotons, similar to that of the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki, and data released by the U.S. Air Force's Defense Support Program indicate that such explosions occur high in the upper atmosphere more than once a year.
"Small Asteroid Predicted to Cause Brilliant Fireball over Northern Sudan" http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news159.html
"The absolute magnitude indicates that the object will not survive passage through the atmosphere."