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The Long Count Calendar of the Ancient Mayans ends on December
21, 2012. There isn't much information about what the Mayans thought would happen
then, but there are those who believe that there will be great change. For some
people, this means a positive, spiritual change. Others believe that a
catastrophic event will occur.
There is no scientific evidence of a 2012 catastrophe, of
course, but there are a number of things that could threaten humanity in that
year. Examples include a geomagnetic reversal, asteroid strike, nuclear war, or
pandemic.
They Came from Outer Space
Some space-related events that could cause a terrestrial catastrophe are
an asteroid impact, a near massive object, gamma ray burst, or even extra
terrestrials. In this blog entry, however, I will focus on the possibility of
an asteroid collision.
As their name suggests, near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) are asteroids whose
orbits are very close to Earth's orbit. Some NEA orbits intersect Earth's
orbit, thus posing the danger of a collision. In light of the Alvarez
hypothesis, the belief that the extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by an
asteroid impact, the possibility of an Earth-asteroid collision is very real –
and potentially very dangerous.
NEAs Near You
Some recent NEAs are as follows:
On March 23, 1989, the 300-meters in diameter Apollo asteroid missed the
Earth by 400,000 miles, passing through the exact position where Earth was only
6 hours before. Had this asteroid impacted Earth, it would have created an
explosion thousands of times more powerful than Tsar Bomba.
Asteroid (29075) 1950 DA, which has a diameter of 1
kilometer, was lost after its discovery in 1950. It was then rediscovered on December 31, 2000.
It may have a potential Earth impact on March 16, 2880.
On June 6,
2002,
an object with an estimated diameter of 10 meters collided with Earth. The collision
occurred over the Mediterranean Sea, between Greece
and Libya, and the object exploded in mid-air. The energy released
was estimated to be equivalent to 26 kilotons of TNT, comparable to a small nuclear weapon.
Although there have been a few false alarms, a number of
asteroids are known to be threats to the Earth. Anyone want to reconsider
moving to Mars?
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Re: End of the Earth!
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