MYSTERIOUS ASTEROID THAT DEFIES THE LAWS OF PHYSICS IS HURTLING TOWARDS EARTH - Scientists don't know how to stop it

  Illustration Andrzej Wojzicki - Corbis, Daily Mail

Asteroid 1950 DA has a 0.3 per cent chance of hitting Earth in 867 years

A possible impact date for 1950 DA is on 16 March, 2880, scientists say

If it hits, it would do so with a force of 44,800 megatonnes of TNT

Asteroid's body defies gravity due to forces known as van Der Waals

These forces have never been spotted on an asteroid before

Scientists say they are now closer to finding out how to stop the rock

 

The asteroid, named 1950 DA, is a rock two-thirds of a mile in diameter, travelling at about 15 km (nine miles) per second relative to the Earth.  

 

It is approximately 3,280ft (1,000 metres) in diameter, but rotates once every two hours and six minutes.  At this rate, the rock should break apart and eventually disintegrate, but it is not showing any signs of doing so.   In fact, the rotation is so fast that at its equator, 1950 DA effectively experiences negative gravity.
 

If an astronaut were to attempt to stand on this surface, he or she would fly off into space unless he or she were somehow anchored.  The presence of cohesive forces has been predicted in small asteroids, but definitive evidence has never been seen before.

 

It is due to swing so close to Earth it could slam into the Atlantic Ocean at 38,000 miles per hour.   It is estimated that if 1950 DA were to collide with the planet, it would do so with an force of around 44,800 megatonnes of TNT.  Although the probability of an impact is only 0.3 per cent, this represents a risk 50 per cent greater than an impact from all other asteroids.

 

Read more

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2726039/Impossible-asteroid-hurtling-Earth-defying-laws-physics-experts-dont-know-stop-it.html

 

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ASTEROIDS CAUSE HUGE NUCLEAR-SCALE BLASTS IN EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE - Some are stronger than the Hiroshima nuclear explosion

Asteroids caused 26 nuclear-scale explosions in the Earth's atmosphere between 2000 and 2013, a new report reveals.

 

Some were more powerful – in one case, dozens of times stronger – than the atom bomb blast that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945 with an energy yield equivalent to 16 kilotons of TNT.

 

Most occurred too high in the atmosphere to cause any serious damage on the ground. But the evidence was a sobering reminder of how vulnerable the Earth was to the threat from space scientists said.

NOT IF - BUT WHEN - A LARGE ASTEROID WILL HEAD FOR EARTH AND WREAK HAVOC - Scientists say that so far we've just been lucky

Where major asteroids have hit from 3.5 million years ago till 2013 -  Daily Mail Illustration

Nasa experts have found evidence that large-scale asteroids have struck Earth three to ten times more often over the past decade than previously thought.  The evidence, which will presented by three former Nasa employees, including two astronauts, will reveal the full extent of the explosions which they claim have shaken countries across the world.  At the event, experts will announce that the only thing 'preventing a city-killer size asteroid is blind luck'.

 

The group says that since 2001 it has detected 26 explosions, which it claims are down to asteroids hitting the planet.  The only reason, the group claims, that the explosions have not been in the public eye is because they have taken place in remote locations.  Phys.org revealed that the group, named B612 Foundation, will present its findings at Seattle's Museum of Flight.

 

Read more -

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2608420/The-thing-preventing-catastrophe-city-killer-size-asteroid-blind-luck-Nasa-astronauts-reveal-evidence-10-times-large-scale-asteroids-hit-earth-decade-previously-thought.html

 

 

RELATED

 

April 19, 2014 - Meteorite shoots through Russian city at night

Footage has emerged from Russia showing a meteor exploding as it enters the atmosphere and lighting up the night sky.  In the short clip, recorded on a car's dash camera, a bright object can be seen streaking across the sky before breaking into pieces and disappearing.  The scenes are reminiscent of the 2013 Russian meteor which exploded in the sky over Chelyabinsk, shattering glass in nearby buildings and injuring 1,200 people.

 

Read more and see video

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2608450/Incredible-moment-blinding-meteorite-stuns-driver-shoots-Russian-city-night.html

 

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ANCIENT VIRUS REVIVED FROM DEFROSTING PERMAFROST - OIL EXPLORATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE CAN RELEASE FRIGHTENING VIRUSES

By Professor Jonathan Ball, 

Professor of Molecular Virology, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences at Nottingham University.

 

The chilling implications of an ancient virus dug up in Siberia: Diseases from the past could once again ravage humanity.  Diseases from the past could once again ravage humanity.  Last week, some of my fellow scientists ‘brought back to life’ a virus called Pithovirus sibericum, which had been lying dormant 100ft down in the Siberian permafrost for some 30,000 years.

 

'Both oil exploration and changes in the climate are capable of releasing not only smallpox, but potentially even viruses we have never seen before'

US BANKS HAVE POWER TO CONFISCATE YOUR MONEY TO SAVE THEMSELVES

World Net Daily  – Banks “too big to fail,” or TBTFs, already have authority in the United States to impose an unlimited Cyprus-style “bail-in” that confiscates the savings of depositors, stockholders and shareholders in lieu of a federal taxpayer bailout.

 

The Cyprus-style bail-in for banks occurred last year when the Cypriot government decided to take all uninsured deposits above 100,000 euros to apply to recapitalizing the island’s failing banks. WND recently detailed the initial impact that such action caused depositors on that island country.

 

Such a bail-in is considered to be the “new collapse template for the Western banking system,” according to financial expert James Sinclair.

 

This template now is being applied in the United States on bank depositors’ savings accounts and on shareholders and stockholders, especially of banks said to be too big to fail.

 

These TBTSs include Citigroup, Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase.

 

“It’s now legal for a big bank to confiscate your money without warning and at their discretion,” Sinclair said.

 

Similar action is being undertaken in Europe following the example of Cyprus. As WND recently pointed out, finance ministers of the 27-member European Union in June had approved forcing bondholders, shareholders and large depositors with more than 100,000 euros in their accounts to make the financial sacrifice before turning to the government for help with taxpayer funds.

 

Read more - http://mobile.wnd.com/2013/10/u-s-banks-already-can-take-your-money/

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JAPAN'S FUKUSHIMA - RADIATION IN FOOD AND ENVIRONMENT BEHIND OFFICIAL REASSURANCES FOR VISITORS

If you are a visitor to Japan, here are some Facts You Should Know About Fukushima

 

By Takashi Hirose

Excerpts: 

 

-  In a residential area park in Tokyo, 230 km from Fukushima, the soil was found to have a radiation level of 92,335 Becquerels per square meter.

 

This is a dangerous level, comparable to what is found around Chernobyl ④ zone (the site of a nuclear catastrophe in 1986).

 

One reason this level of pollution is found in the capital is that between Tokyo and Fukushima there are no mountains high enough to block radioactive clouds.

 

In the capital people who understand the danger absolutely avoid eating food produced in eastern Japan.

 

 

-  If you go to the big central fish market near Tokyo and measure the radiation in the air, it registers at about 0.05 micro Sieverts – a little higher than normal level.

 

But if you measure the radiation near the place where the instrument that measures the radiation of the fish is located, the level is two or three times greater (2013 measurement).

 

-  Vegetables and fish from around the Tokyo area, even if they are irradiated, are not thrown away.

 

This is because the level established by the Japanese Government for permissible radiation in food – which if exceeded the food must not be sold – is the same as the permissible level of radiation in low-level radioactive wastes.

 

Which is to say, in Japan today, as the entire country has been contaminated, we have no choice but to put irradiated garbage on the dinner table.

 

-  The distribution of irradiated food is also a problem. Food from near Fukushima will be sent to another prefecture, and then sent on, relabeled as produced in the second prefecture.

 

In particular, food distributed by the major food companies, and food served in expensive restaurants, is almost never tested for radiation.

 

-  In Japan, the only radiation from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Reactors that is being measured is the radioactive cesium.

 

However large amounts of strontium 90 and tritium are spreading all over Japan. Strontium and tritium’s radiation consists of beta rays, and are very difficult to measure.

 

However both are extremely dangerous: strontium can cause leukemia, and tritium can cause chromosome disorder.

Read more about Fukushima radiation  -  http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/09/26/a-letter-to-all-young-athletes-who-dream-of-coming-to-tokyo-in-2020/

Takashi Hirose is the author of Fukushima Meltdown: The World’s First Earthquake-Tsunami-Nuclear Disaster (2011)


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DRAMATIC PHOTOS - ENORMOUS SINKHOLES ALL OVER THE UNITED STATES

ENVIRONMENT NEWS -  Sinkholes appearing all over the United States

See photos here - 

http://countdowntozerotime.org/2013/03/02/americas-deadly-phenomenon-the-sinkholes-that-have-swallowed-homes-cars-and-businesses-across-the-country/

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HANFORD RADIOACTIVE LEAKS MAY BE AROUND 1000 GALLONS A YEAR

NO SOLUTION YET

 

Hanford radioactive waste tanks may be leaking about 1000 gallons a year. The key word here is "may".  Just a few days ago Hanford (Washington State) experts had to correct their estimate of ONE leaking tank to SIX - which gives us an idea of their level of attention, or most likely, their possible reluctance to disclose the whole truth at once.

 

Washington Governor Jay Inslee was careful to characterize the 1000 gallons as a "rough estimate," perhaps by releasing the figures gradually in preparation for the shock of the actual amount.  Stay tuned.

 

The governor's estimate is for one year. How much has it leaked over the years? How far has it reached? 

 

He also admitted that there is no technology available to plug the leaks.  Authorities and the public have allowed a large number of "clean-energy" nuclear power plants to be constructed all over the country, not knowing the details of how to SAFELY dispose of the waste, and if there were "accidents" and leakage of that waste, how they would deal with them, if at all. 

 

It is likely that the leaking radioactive contamination could make its way to the mighty Columbia River, which would affect the drinking water and environment in a much larger area.

Read more  http://enenews.com/governor-nuclear-waste-is-leaking-an-estimated-1000-gallons-a-year-no-available-technology-to-plug-the-leaks-at-Hanford

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WHY NOT ENOUGH EFFORTS TO PROTECT US FROM BIG ASTEROID IMPACTS?

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Link to this post:  http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2013/02/disaster-news-why-not-enough-efforts-to.html - Thank you for visiting my blog.
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While authorities micromanage your life telling you what to eat, and in what amounts, they seem oblivious to REAL DANGERS to life on Earth.  Aside from rampant toxic pollution, we also have to worry about the odd asteroid or mega-meteor headed for us that could obliterate life.  Our fearless leaders still haven't figured out how to spot them on time - let alone how to divert them from Earth.

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In 1992, a congressional study named the Spaceguard Survey Report recommended that NASA find 90 percent of all near-Earth asteroids more than 1 kilometer in size within 10 years, a goal mandated by Congress six years later.

In 2005, the target was redefined to spotting 90 percent of objects 140 meters or larger. Perennially underfunded, the project last year received less than half of the money it needed to complete its task.

But since the Chelyabinsk event, members of Congress from both parties have written statements and op-eds rallying greater support for these efforts.  Unfortunately, U.S. legislators are preoccupied with other issues for the time being.

Budgetary squabbles may lead the country to gut a significant portion of national spending as part of the sequester, including NASA funding.  WIRED.COM

Trail left by meteor in Russia, February 15, 2013

Wired magazine:  In the wake of Earth’s largest meteor strike in more than a century, the world’s attention has turned skyward.

 

The 17-meter bolide exploded in the air over the Chelyabinsk region of Russia on Feb. 15, shattering windows and injuring around 1,000 people. But had the meteor come in at a slightly different angle, the space rock could have impacted the ground and the fallout could have been much worse.

 

More money is already flowing toward future asteroid detection and mitigation strategies, but we may never be able to fully protect ourselves.

 

There are plenty of programs already in place for monitoring relatively large near-Earth objects, and more will be coming online soon, both from government space agencies and the private sector.

 

However, even the best efforts will not be able to catch objects the size of the Chelyabinsk meteor — rocks that are small enough to evade detection by current technology until they are streaking through Earth’s atmosphere, but large enough to be dangerous.

 

The technology to actually stop any killer asteroids that we do manage to detect is also far in the future. Many techniques have been proposed, including using nuclear missiles, laser beams, or even spray paint, but none are proven or anywhere near becoming reality. A lot more research and development as well as an unprecedented international effort will be needed before we can even begin to be protected.

But we’re working on it.

Certain scientists and members of the spaceflight community have long and vocally advocated for better methods to track potentially dangerous objects and more funding for mitigation research.

 

But the odds have always been small and attention to this potential natural disaster has mostly been on the back burner. The probability remains the same — Chelyabinsk-like events tend to occur between once every 10 years to once every century — yet now people’s attention has been refocused.

 

Simply looking for potentially hazardous asteroids is one of the most important parts of this effort, said physicist and former astronaut Ed Lu, who helped found the B612 Foundation, a private non-profit dedicated to spotting dangerous objects from space.

 

Asteroid orbits can be easily estimated once they’re spotted, potentially giving years or even decades of advanced warning to civilization. Astronomers already know of more than 400,000 asteroids, of which 6,500 pass near the Earth, but there are many gaps and uncharted objects that could still pose a danger.

 

“How stupid if we got hit because we weren’t looking?” said Lu. “That seems crazy to me.”

 

In 1992, a congressional study named the Spaceguard Survey Report recommended that NASA find 90 percent of all near-Earth asteroids more than 1 kilometer in size within 10 years, a goal mandated by Congress six years later. In 2005, the target was redefined to spotting 90 percent of objects 140 meters or larger.

 

Perennially underfunded, the project last year received less than half of the money it needed to complete its task. But since the Chelyabinsk event, members of Congress from both parties have written statements and op-eds rallying greater support for these efforts.

 

Unfortunately, U.S. legislators are preoccupied with other issues for the time being. Budgetary squabbles may lead the country to gut a significant portion of national spending as part of the sequester, including NASA funding.

 

While no new money is likely to be coming to asteroid-spotting activities, the Russian strike may cause “a shift in priorities to looking at this more than we have at the past,” said space policy expert Henry Hertzfeld of George Washington University.

 

Many ground-based telescopes are already actively watching the heavens, most coordinated through NASA’s Spaceguard program. These include the Catalina Sky Survey, the U.K. Spaceguard Centre, and the Japanese Spaceguard Association. A similar undertaking from the European Space Agency, the Space Situational Awareness program, works with amateur astronomers to monitor dangers from above, including near-Earth asteroids.

 

A new endeavor coming online in 2015 named the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System Project (ATLAS) will provide an early warning system that could provide one week’s notice for city-destroying 45-meter asteroids and three week’s notice for potentially devastating 140-meter objects.

 

But the next and most important frontier is watching from space. By sheer coincidence, a Canadian Space Agency project that started in 2008 is scheduled to launch on Feb. 25. Named the Near-Earth Object Surveillance Satellite (NEOSSat), this suitcase-sized spacecraft will circle the planet every 100 minutes, scanning space for asteroids that may someday pass near the Earth.

 

Being in space means that NEOSSat will solve one of the main problems with current asteroid-watching techniques: You can’t do them during the day. A telescope aimed at the sky when the sun is up will see nothing other than bright sunlight. This is the reason the Chelyabinsk meteor went unnoticed — it came in from the dayside of our planet. The NEOSSat project will begin operation shortly after launch and look for some of the most dangerous objects larger than half a kilometer.

 

Even more robust space-based telescopes are now being readied by the private sector. Planetary Resources, Inc., a company that aims to mine asteroids, intends to launch a small telescope named the Arkyd-100 that will sit in low-Earth orbit and scan for nearby space rocks.

 

Though its primary goal will be to find valuable asteroids, the spacecraft will be able to watch for possibly dangerous objects coming from the sunlit side of Earth. Arkyd-100 is expected to launch in 18 to 20 months.

 

A more targeted effort comes from the B612 Foundation, which plans to launch the Sentinel telescope in late 2016. This spacecraft would sit inside the orbit of Venus and constantly be on the lookout for killer asteroids, whichever direction they come from. Sentinel will spot nearly all asteroids 150 meters or larger and identify a significant portion of those down to 30 meters in diameter.

 

With a price tag of several hundreds of millions, the project is comparable to a large municipal undertaking like a new highway overpass. But it is still much more than anything accomplished by a private non-profit in space and so there has been some doubt whether or not B612 could wrangle enough people into backing their idea. Since Chelyabinsk, their telescope is on surer footing.

 

“There’s been a crush of people contacting us,” said Lu. “Suddenly it’s on everyone’s mind.”

Online donations have increased tenfold, he added. While most of these are fairly small, generally around $100, many richer potential donors who were sitting on the fence have now fully signed on to the company’s plans. Entrepreneur Peter Diamandis, co-founder of Planetary Resources, reported a similar effect with investors who were previously hesitant but are now more willing to back in their venture.

 

Should one of these telescope projects one day spot a doomsday asteroid, there are already many proposals for how to deflect the object. The method most favored by the B612 Foundation is fairly simple – place a modest-size spaceship near the asteroid and have its gravitational pull slowly alter the object’s course, averting catastrophe. The technique is relatively low cost and would certainly work but would require several years or possibly decades of advanced notice.

 

For a large rock that’s headed right for us fairly quickly, B612 recommends smashing a giant projectile into the asteroid. This kinetic impactor would provide a strong kick to shuffle an asteroid off its current trajectory. Later, a gravity tractor could be used to make any more precise changes necessary.

 

It is still unknown exactly what the worldwide reaction will be to a known dangerous asteroid. Actual physical research into asteroid mitigation techniques has been pretty much nonexistent.

Most likely, asteroid mitigation efforts will be an international undertaking.

 

Any particular city or country has only a small chance of being hit, though the countries with some of the largest land area, the U.S. and Russia, are also those with the most advanced space programs. It would be in everyone’s best interest to ward off the attack, perhaps providing something akin to a common enemy, suggested Hertzfeld.

 

Source

http://www.wired.com/2013/02/asteroid-watching-mitigation/

 

RELATED

NORMALCY BIAS - The normalcy bias, or normality bias, refers to a mental state people enter when facing a disaster.

It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. 

This often results in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster preparations.

The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias

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OOPS! IT ISN'T ONE TANK LEAKING RADIOACTIVE WASTE, BUT SIX

©http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/. Unauthorized duplication of this blog's material is prohibited.   Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full credit and link is given to Otters and Science News Blogspot.  Link to this post:  http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2013/02/nuclear-news-oops-it-isnt-one-tank.html - Thank you for visiting my blog.
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Six tanks are leaking dangerous amounts of radioactive and other toxic waste at the Hanford storage facility in Washington State. Washington Governor Jay Inslee called this "disturbing" but he reassured citizens that this incident does not present "immediate risk".

 

What is really much more disturbing is the fact that Hanford scientists and technicians have trouble counting to six.

Just the other day they reported that only one tank was leaking. It took days to correct that figure.  And those math-challenged people are in charge of the storage and "disposal" of countless barrels of radioactive waste.  T

he word "disposal" is rather inaccurate, considering that this waste will last for millions of years and there is no way to dispose of it - only to hide it, and let future generations deal with it. 

Read more - http://enenews.com/governor-we-received-very-disturbing-news-today-radioactive-leak-at-u-s-nuclear-site-much-larger-than-first-reported-no-immediate-health-risks

RELATED

The Perfect Radioactive Storm 

http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2013/02/news-perfect-radioactive-storm-those.html

Physicians for Social Responsibility:  Hanford is the most contaminated site in the Western World.
http://www.psr.org/chapters/washington/hanford/hanford-history.html

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THE PERFECT RADIOACTIVE STORM

©http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/. Unauthorized duplication of this blog's material is prohibited.   Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full credit and link is given to Otters and Science News Blogspot. 
Link to this post:   http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2013/02/news-perfect-radioactive-storm-perfect.html- Thank you for visiting my blog.


The perfect radioactive storm - those are words used by the Washington governor to highlight how the federal government is threatening to impose cuts at the same time as a storage tank at the Hanford nuclear storage facility is leaking radioactive waste.  

An editorial on the Daily Astorian explains:

There are 149 single-wall tanks at Hanford, plus 28 newer tanks with double walls. They contain residue from decades of refining plutonium for nuclear weapons, sludge that will remain deadly to living creatures for many thousands of years. 

Costly design flaws have delayed completion of a facility to convert this waste into stable glass-like rods. Now, political malpractice on the part of Congress could easily extend these delays.  “We’re out of time, obviously. These tanks are starting to fail now,” said Tom Carpenter of the Hanford watchdog group Hanford Challenge. “We’ve got a problem. This is big.”

http://www.dailyastorian.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-a-perfect-radioactive-storm/article_8e33ea68-7ac8-11e2-9609-0019bb2963f4.html

Hat tip to ENENEWS

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The ugly truth about nuclear reactors is consistently avoided by the mainstream media.

Misrepresented as a "clean alternative" to fossil fuels, the nuclear industry has no plans to truly safely dispose of its large amounts of toxic waste.  The most they can do is hide it, which does not really protect humankind from its inherent danger.
 

They have no effective way of dealing with decommissioned plants, and no realistic plans for appropriate response in case of a catastrophic electromagnetic pulse - EMP  event - over a large part of the United States, or of a major earthquake centered at, or near, a nuclear plant. We have already watched government incompetence in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Sandy.

 

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