Time: Tue Nov 12 23:00:12 1996 To: Jan Farmer <jfarmer@startext.net> From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: Re: Scientists Debate Asteroid Threat Cc: Bcc: "The sky is falling!" "The sky is falling!!" Colonel Sanders, chorus master, Arkansas Chicken Farms and feed lot accessories, unlimited At 11:40 PM 11/12/96 -0800, you wrote: >From: ray673@best.com >Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable >Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 08:00:08 -0800 >To: raymond673@aol.com >Subject: Scientists Debate Asteroid Threat > > >Tuesday November 12 10:37 AM EST > >Should we Duck? Scientists Debate Asteroid Threat > >LONDON (Reuter) - British space scientists were meeting Tuesday to debate >whether the Earth was in imminent danger of being hit by an asteroid -- and >whether anything could be done about it. > >Many of the scientists and amateur astronomers attending the meeting argue >that thousands of large objects pass near the Earth every decade, and >little is being done to track them. > >"People like to imagine that there are battalions of astronomers scouring >the skies. There aren't," said Duncan Steel, an astronomer at Australia's >University of Adelaide. > >Steel said any one person's risk of being killed by such a collision is >four times higher than that of being killed in a plane crash, although this >is because of the way statistics work. > >The risk is assessed on the assumption that the world's entire population >would be killed, which raises the stakes considerably compared to a plane >crash in which only a few hundred might die. > >In fact, the risk of an actual collision with an asteroid is much lower >than the risk of a passenger jet crashing. > >Nonetheless, some scientists are very worried. > >"We really need to get a better idea of what we are doing, what we can do," >said Richard Tremaine Smith of the British National Space Center. > >Steel, who is trying to coordinate efforts via an organization known as >Spaceguard, points to the 1908 explosion over Tunguska in Siberia. > >Astronomers think an asteroid or large meteorite exploded on impact with >the Earth's atmosphere. It flattened hundreds of square miles of trees. > >Scientists also think a meteor or asteroid impact wiped out the dinosaurs >65 million years ago. Not only would the impact cause a huge explosion and >tidal waves, but it would kick up enough dust to cloud the planet in >continual winter for years. > >Steel said technology existed to track and even destroy any asteroid that >got too close -- it would just have to be organised. > >"We cannot move the Earth out of the way. However, we do have the >technological capability to divert such an object," he told BBC radio. For >instance, atomic bombs could be launched into space to divert one. > >But other scientists are sceptical about the need. > >"You've got to realise that a dangerous impact will occur once every >100,000 human generations," said David Hughes, an astronomer at Sheffield >University. > >Hughes said it would be impossible to track all the millions of asteroids >orbiting nearby, and said experience proved the risks of a devastating >collision were low. > >"Life has survived. We are here. These asteroids have been hitting the >Earth continually since its origin, the rate of asteroidal impact has been >going down since its origin, and life has survived." > > >Copyright =A9 1996 Reuters Limited. > >------------------------------ > >Eph 6:10-13 The Armor of God... > >10 =B6 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his = >might. > 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against >the wiles of the devil. > 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, >against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against >spiritual wickedness in high [places]. > 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to >withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. > >------------------------------- > >To subscribe for FREE to Prophe-Zine, write to ray673@best.com > >http://www.best.com/~ray673/pzhome.shtml > >God never closes a door, without opening a window. > > > > >
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