Reply to: New earth size hole in Jupiter discovered

[ace00]

Yes, I read about that. But what if Jupiter and Saturn are round one side of the Solar System and a flipping great asteroid sneaks in the other side? They can't be everywhere at once.

ur joking right?

[gingerjedi]

Yes, I read about that. But what if Jupiter and Saturn are round one side of the Solar System and a flipping great asteroid sneaks in the other side? They can't be everywhere at once.

It would be offside... but the goal would most certainly stand!

The Earth has taken quite few hits over the years but none of any significance in the last few million.

[RichardCranium]

Mass drivers, nukes without the nasty radiation...

Shush. If the proles knew about inter-stellar warfare and mass drivers, they'd really cack themselves. They think Star Wars and Star Trek is accurate; no concept of giving some big rocks in deep space a gentle shove, safe in the knowledge that you have wiped out the enemy's home planet three years from now, before they've even discovered your race exists. No grasp of how viable interstellar torpedoes are and why turning off all our radio emissions might be A Good Idea.

I suspect we're 'going digital' on TV and radio because of what was discovered since Roswell...

... say, Zeity. Are you here on consultancy or diplomacy?

[OwlHoot]

Part of the Earths success is down to Jupiter and Saturn acting like giant goalkeepers collecting and deflecting galactic debris before it gets to us.

They are integral to our evolution and continued survival.

Yes, I read about that. But what if Jupiter and Saturn are round one side of the Solar System and a flipping great asteroid sneaks in the other side? They can't be everywhere at once.

[gingerjedi]

Indeed it is. The greatest miracle of all is life. How this planet in this solar system managed to maintain a stable enough environment in its bit of space for evolution to occur is beyond my comprehension.

Gamma blasts, meteorites, inter-stellar material, supernovae and all manner of other reasons could have wiped life out utterly in the past few hundred million years. Or done enough damage to knock us back into single-cell life and so reset the clock.

We really do need to be colonising other worlds as a prelude to spreading out of this solar system.

Part of the Earths success is down to Jupiter and Saturn acting like giant goalkeepers collecting and deflecting galactic debris before it gets to us.

They are integral to our evolution and continued survival.

[RichardCranium]

There is no reason why something the size of the earth crashing into some other part of the solar system should raise alarm bells, even if we saw it coming, which we probably wouldn't.

Jupiter's immense gravity sweeps up much of the incoming debris so gets hit quite often.

The solar system formed from the accretion of lots of dust and gas. These clump together and fall in on each other making bigger and bigger lumps until they form the sun and planets. What doesn't seem to be well known is that that process is not finished. The lumps are still falling in; it is perfectly normal.

Unfortunately, a lump the size of a house could take out a city and devastate much of the land around it.

And since the Hubble Space Telescope can't see the Apollo module on the moon, how are we supposed to see a dark rock of a similar size out in Neptune's orbit?

Especially since we didn't even see that one that passed between us and the moon a few months ago.

Swine 'flu? Pah! Evolution in action.

Space rocks - that's The Way To Go.

[bodnobal]

Yawn.

Is it billing day again?

[EternalOptimist]

Thats not new. We have that at least once per week.

I bet you dont shape it to look like red rum. I call it the 'Horse head globula'

sorry, i though this thread was about gastronomy

[BrilloPad]

absolutely. Last week I gently fried some cheese slices, when they were bubbling I tipped in half bag of mushrooms - bliss.


sorry, thought you said gastronomy

Thats not new. We have that at least once per week.

[expat]

I would of thought that if something the size of the earth crashes into our solar system, it would raise alarm bells somewhere!

I thought that the US had some kind of early monitoring service that that would detect things of this nature that has potential to threaten the solar system.

Suddenly, the universe feels a dangerous place where anything could happen!

PZZ

It is, and we don't have tabs on very much of it. AIUI the US monitors large objects that may threaten Earth, not the entire solar system. There is no reason why something the size of the earth crashing into some other part of the solar system should raise alarm bells, even if we saw it coming, which we propbably wouldn't.

I would have thought.

[RichardCranium]

I would of thought that if something the size of the earth crashes into our solar system, it would raise alarm bells somewhere!

It wasn't. It merely heated up an Earth-sized bit of Jupiter's atmosphere.

There are no alarm bells installed on Jupiter. Yet. However, I suspect Her Majesty's Gov have security cameras, but pointing at the local populace, not the sky.

I thought that the US had some kind of early monitoring service that that would detect things of this nature that has potential to threaten the solar system.

Nope. There are a number of pipe dreams, that's all. Nothing that actually works.

They're looking for very small pieces of black material against a black background that emit virtually no radiation but travel incredibly fast. Squillions of them. And the dangerous ones are probably outside Pluto's orbit most of the time.

Suddenly, the universe feels a dangerous place where anything could happen!

Indeed it is. The greatest miracle of all is life. How this planet in this solar system managed to maintain a stable enough environment in its bit of space for evolution to occur is beyond my comprehension.

Gamma blasts, meteorites, inter-stellar material, supernovae and all manner of other reasons could have wiped life out utterly in the past few hundred million years. Or done enough damage to knock us back into single-cell life and so reset the clock.

We really do need to be colonising other worlds as a prelude to spreading out of this solar system.

[EternalOptimist]

Astronomy is one of the sciences where many of the discoveries can be, and are, still done by amateurs.

absolutely. Last week I gently fried some cheese slices, when they were bubbling I tipped in half bag of mushrooms - bliss.


sorry, thought you said gastronomy

[pzz76077]

Typically, look at very small parts of the sky at very high resolution. Strangely, they're not actually paid to sit looking out of the window all night!

Amateurs look at larger areas.

Astronomy is one of the sciences where many of the discoveries can be, and are, still done by amateurs.

I would of thought that if something the size of the earth crashes into our solar system, it would raise alarm bells somewhere!

I thought that the US had some kind of early monitoring service that that would detect things of this nature that has potential to threaten the solar system.

Suddenly, the universe feels a dangerous place where anything could happen!

PZZ

[RichardCranium]

Discovered by an amateur no less, makes you wonder what all of the space agencies and publicly funded telescope installations around the world do all day!

Typically, look at very small parts of the sky at very high resolution. Strangely, they're not actually paid to sit looking out of the window all night!

Amateurs look at larger areas.

Astronomy is one of the sciences where many of the discoveries can be, and are, still done by amateurs.

[eliquant]

That's not a hole. I invested it.

lol