How a Comet Strike Could be Avoided?
Sorry for this blogging hiatus. It has been really busy at work lately.
Few days ago I published the results of our March poll in which we asked if you are afraid of comet strikes. Although most people are not afraid of comet strikes, there is a little possibility that a big comet hits our planet and causes a nuclear winter type of situation. If that case the human race would be swept away. Sounds cruel? It is a real threat, but the probability is very small. This has happened in the past and will most likely happen some day in the future. Last time such a catastrophe happened was 65 million years ago in Jukatan in Mexico and it caused a situation comparable to a nuclear winter.
The energy released in asteroid impact is usually compared to nuclear bombs. An asteroid with diameter of 20-100 meters has over 10 megatons of releasing energy. This kind of impact causes local destruction and usually happens in every 10 years. Las time such a strike happened 1908 in Tunguska river in Russia. The explosion caused destruction in area of 2000 square kilometers. Hopefully Tunguska is rural area and the impact did not cause very much damage.
There are also big asteroids wandering in the space. If an asteroid has diameter of kilometers, the releasing energy is over 100.000 megatons, which causes global damage. Most of the population dies, and a nuclear winter starts a cold season that stays years. This kind of impacts typically happen in every 100.000 years.
An asteroid having diameter of over 10 kilometers would cause mass destruction in which most of the flora and fauna dies. The impact would also cause long-term changes in the climate of the Earth. This kind of impacts happen in tens of millions of years.
How could we prevent a comet strike? In science fiction movies they shoot a rocket and blow the asteroid or comet in pieces. Unfortunately it is not that easy. If we would be able to blow a comet into pieces, most of the pieces would continue towards our planet and would cause a lot of damage. A more realistic approach is to try to change the direction of the comet. This requires information about the orbit of the comet, but unfortunately the time for gathering the information is limited. With asteroids this is easier, but with comets we usually have only few months time to calculate its direction.
Right now there is no “bullet proof” method for avoiding comet strikes, so we can just hope the best. In the future researchers might come up with a new innovation that provides us a good protection against comet strikes.
This article was written by Marko Pyhajarvi and its original location is in HomeboyAstronomy.Com astronomy blog. For more great astronomy articles, please visit HomeboyAstronomy.Com. Share This
Scientific Scenario Of A Comet’s Impact With Earth And The “Wormwood” Prophecy
An Introduction
In the First Century AD, the Apostle John wrote an apocalyptic book called “Revelation” in which he described among many “end-time” events the collision of a star called Wormwood with Earth. Revelation states:
Rev. 8:10-11: The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water– the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.
Wormwood is a botanical herb commonly known for its bitterness. See Botanical.com. It was used a pesticide, medicinal tonic and liqueur ingredient. The term “wormwood” was often used to describe “extreme bitterness”.
Let us consider the possibility of a “star” turning the waters bitter on Earth. The term “star” in classical terminology lacks the modern astronomical sense. It could have been referring to a comet. asteroid, “sun-like” star or planet. Since the possibility of a planet or sun colliding with earth is infinitesimal, we will eliminate this possibility.
A Scientific Explanation For The Wormwood Star
The Wormwood prophecy cites a “great star, blazing like a torch”. Comets are well known for their blazing tails, due to ionization of their gases by the Sun. Either an asteroid or comet could manifest a blazing tail on their entry into Earth’s atmosphere. With respect to a comet’s impact with a planet, astronomers have recently tracked the collision of the “Shoemaker-Levy 9″ comet with the planet Jupiter and were able to confirm many of their theories.
Various scientific scenarios have been theorized on the effects of an asteroid or comet’s collision with Earth. An applicable scenario theorizes a chemical change in the atmosphere due to “heat shock” during entry and/or impact of a large asteroid or comet, reacting Oxygen and Nitrogen in the atmosphere to produce Nitric Acid rain. The bitterness produced by the Wormwood Star upon a third of the Earth’s potable waters could be the Biblical prediction of “acid rain” from the “heat shock” of a large comet or asteroid’s impact with Earth.
The Hooper Natural Science Museum in Ottawa, Canada cites a scientific theory that postulates “atmospheric chemical changes” from the impact of an asteroid or comet with the Earth. See the statement below:
When an asteroid enters earth’s atmosphere there are two occurrences of extreme shock. The first occurs as the asteroid enters the atmosphere. The second, more important one, occurs when the ejecta plume (the ejected debris caused by an impact) enters the atmosphere (Zahnle, 1990). This shock causes the breakdown of the oxygen (O2) and the nitrogen (N2) molecules found in our atmosphere. Through a series of chemical reactions the dissociation of the nitrogen and oxygen forms NO which is then converted into NO2. These two molecules can produce acid rain (HNO3) (Prinn and Fegley, 1987). In 1987 Prinn and Fegley determined the atmospheric consequences of a “large” comet impact versus a “small” comet impact. They assumed the “large” impact comet had a mass of 1.25 x 1016 Kg traveling at a velocity of 65 Km/s. As for the “small” impact asteroid, they assumed it had a mass of 5 x 1014 Kg traveling at a velocity of 20 Km/s. It is important to note that these two objects are possible bolides that hit the earth 65 million years ago.
Conclusions of the Large Impact Scenario
If the comet scenario occurred, 7 x 1040 molecules of NO would have been produced and subsequently converted into acid rain. (See chemical reactions) This would have caused a global dispersal of acid rain with a pH of 0-1.5. On the continents the acid rain would have weathered the soil removing many of the insoluble elements ( for e.g. Be+2, Al+3, Hg+2, Cu+, Fe+2, Fe+3, Ti+3, Pb+2, Cd+2, Mn+2, Sr+2). These elements would end up in soil water, streams, rivers, lakes, etc., causing a problem as some of these elements are known for their toxicity towards plants and animals (e.g. Al, Be, Ti, Hg). As for the oceans, the global acid rain would lower the pH of the mixed layer (the top 75 M of the ocean) to a pH of 7.8, breaking down the calcareous shells of organisms that thrive in the mixing zone.
Conclusions of the Small Impact Scenario
If the “small” asteroid scenario were to occur, the amount of acid rain produced would be similar to the “large” comet scenario but only near the impact site. The global pH change would be rather insignificant.
Above statement is referred to Reference Link #4 (Hooper Museum Website)
Conclusion
In conclusion, the scientific scenario theorizing “acid rain” following a large comet or asteroid impact with Earth is the best explanation for the “Wormwood Star” prophecy existing today. Such information enhances the credibility of the “Wormwood Star” prophecy and New Testament writings with scientific theory.
Referring Links
Below are various links discussing asteroids and comets. I have focused particularly on the scientific scenarios of a comet or asteroid colliding with Earth, causing chemical changes in the atmosphere.
“Academy of Sciences” website article describes comets.
“Purdue Univ. Physics Dept.” article on physical attributes of comets.
Hayden Planetarium website analysis of 1994 comet collision with the planet Jupiter.
Hooper Museum website article predicting “atmospheric chemical changes” with the impact of a comet.
Smithsonian/NASA article on possible “acid rain” effect of comet’s collision with Earth.
“Univ. of Bristol, Bristol, UK” website article on impact geology, physics and chemistry of comets.
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