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9.6 km Asteroid hits Earth...

Straybow

Straybow

SOC-14 1K
Asteroid hits Earth and does... nothing. OK, that isn't the real title of the article, but for such a huge rock it didn't do squat. Didn't even leave a layer of dust, like any other self-respecting asteroid. Melted some ice, pfft, like anybody would've noticed.

Here's another one that said a few more things about it: Antarctic craters reveal asteroid strike
Professor Frans van der Hoeven, from Delft University in the Netherlands, told the conference that the evidence showed that an asteroid measuring between three and seven miles across had broken up in the atmosphere and five large pieces had hit the Earth, creating multiple craters over an area measuring 1,300 by 2,400 miles.
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It happened 870 kya or 780 kya, depending on whether they had daylight savings time back then.

Of course, we know it was actually the result of the wars of the ancients.
 
Actually, just out of interest, any Space Anoraks on here know what effect the reversing of Earth's magnetic field would have?

-W.
 
Offhand... aurorae all over the place, possibly more radiation getting through to the surface as things flip around (more mutations/cancers?), lots of very confused birds and other migratory animals, and everyone having to get used to flying north to Australia
 
There was a Nova episode titled "Magnetic Storm" on PBS a while back. Kinda disturbing, seems the earth's magnetic field strength is growing weaker and more chaotic. Research suggests this is tied to the cyclical (every couple hundred thousand years or so) reversal of the magnetic poles. The low period of the magnetic field could last in the order of hundreds of years. So the two theories are at odds. One is it's a natural cycle, the other that it is only caused by catastrophic events. Given how regularly the field seems to flip, and that it seems to be in a period of flux right now (and no recent big asteroids) I'd go with it being a coincidence that the asteroid hit when the field flipped. Of course they are both just theories right now, and either or both could be wrong.

So good news or bad news first? OK, good news first, we can look forward to spectacular aurora displays and no longer confined to the poles but prone to pop up anywhere, even in equatorial regions. The bad news, its the magnetic field that keeps a lot of the deadly solar and galactic radiation from cooking us daily, so we'll be looking at increased cancer rates while the field goes through the low flux. At least according to the show. I seem to recall a passing mention in another show where scientists were stumped by one (or more) species migration route(s) not making sense based on just magnetics so they must use other signals too, pehaps weather or landmarks. Compasses are easy to fix of course ;) living this close to the magnetic north pole (which is well off from the "true" pole) my compass points well off of North anyway. Of course depending how long the state of flux lasts (during which compassess will be totally useless) and where the magnetic poles end up, well it's a good thing we have sat-nav
 
Yeah, thinking a bit more I can't see an asteroid causing the magnetic flip. The driving force of the magnetic field is happening deep in the molten core and has to do with the spinning of it (or something like that iirc). Not something that an asteroid short of a planet cracker is likely to upset I'd think.
 
No, I can't see an asteroid strike causing a flip either. For starters, a 9 km asteroid is peanuts compared to the Earth - sure, it could damage the surface environment and biosphere for a long time if it hit the right place, but the worst it could do to the Earth's interior is send seismic waves through it, and those generally don't cause magnetic flips. I guess it might be conceivable that strong enough seismic waves could somehow affect the convection currents in the core that make the magnetic field but I've never heard of any examination of that scenario, and I suspect it's probably impossible.
 
Ok, yet again coming home drunk (happens on your B-Day). Summarising the information in a single salient point: Magnetic Field flipping sucks :D . Or have I misinterpreted?

-W.
 
Happy B-Day :D I'll join you in a drink to that, have another
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Yep, probably not a fun time, but it will be interesting (all the more so IF we can all hang around healthy till then, I expect it's well off yet before we notice anything without special instruments).

<edit>

actually it mightn't be that bad, the cancer rates I think were comparable to that of a regular jet passenger, but on the ground, flying of course will be a slightly bigger dosage yet
 
Originally posted by far-trader:
Happy B-Day :D I'll join you in a drink to that, have another
file_21.gif


Yep, probably not a fun time, but it will be interesting (all the more so IF we can all hang around healthy till then, I expect it's well off yet before we notice anything without special instruments).

<edit>

actually it mightn't be that bad, the cancer rates I think were comparable to that of a regular jet passenger, but on the ground, flying of course will be a slightly bigger dosage yet
Click to expand...
Thanks for the kind b-day wishes.... the last sentace worries me.. I'm already a regular jet passenger.... no respite!!!
;)

-W.
 
Worse than the radiation will be the effect on all EM devices. Radios will become unreliable and land lines will have to be shielded like a cold-war system. When a solar storm hits the outer atmospher you will get a nsty EMP.
 
Well, I could find the original thread but all the talk about using Rocks from Orbit as weapons got me to thinking...

Especially, after I chanced upon this cool web page which discusses the impact of asteroids in different conditions. True there is no task roll for avoiding the falling rock nor is there a Damage rating but I think it still gives many ideas for Traveller playing.
 
:cool: Warning! Sheer fun speculation with no serious scientific assessment ahead! :cool:
Of course, what if the magnetic field plays a part in keeping the asteroids away? What if the magnetic field being in flux allowed the asteroid to strike. What if the real danger with the mag field flipping is a significant increase in the likelihood of a massive meteor impact on Earth? Does anybody know the relationship of previous mass extinctions to pole-flipping?
:cool: End of sheer fun speculation :cool:
 
Well, perhaps that is due the Science Discovery channel broadcasting the repeats of the K-T event when we all know that it was caused by a foiled cyberman invasion... -


The site is still useful sorry that I hadn't noticed that others had not linked to it. Perhaps, we could keep a running list of non Traveller links in the Starport area. These links could range from the esoteric (like above) or RPG in nature (like mine dealing with Cthulhu in the Far Future).
 
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