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.
>
>-------------------------------
>
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>
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>
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>
>
      

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