Because we do not even know if one is coming [ they have longer periods and travel in and out of the Oort cloud ], and may have as little as 1 month to discover and react.
Do we have any chance of being hit by commet?
2007-09-14 14:00:26 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Yes we do have a chance of being hit by a comet and you are right that it cannot be predicted very far in advance. But you are wrong that we would have as little as 1 month to discover it. Most comets are detected a year or more before passing Earth. But even a year would be too late. We would need something like 20 years to realistically do anything. But don't worry, the chances of being hit are small. Very small. Astronomically small.
By the way, there is no asteroid in 2012.
2007-09-14 14:07:38 · answer #1 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 5⤊ 0⤋
It would be a disaster if we were hit by either. Comets are usually detected long before they get to Earth and their orbits can be determined. Science is trying to develop a way to destroy or deflect an asteroid if one is spotted heading this way.
2007-09-14 21:25:34 · answer #2 · answered by johnandeileen2000 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
We are not going to be hit by an asteroid in 2012, the sun is going to have a polar shift and so will the earth (caos) then the sun will also let out a large solar flare which will penentrate the earth's atmosphere and we will all be exposed to radiation. At the same time the solar system will start sliding from one end of the galaxy.That is the end of the world step by step.
2007-09-14 21:39:37 · answer #3 · answered by Math☻Nerd 4 · 0⤊ 4⤋
Possibility. In the recent past some comets were only discovered a few months before they became visible to the naked eye.
Remember the one that hit the Yucatan Peninsula.
Dinosaurs didn't even see that one coming.
2007-09-14 21:06:51 · answer #4 · answered by Bill 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋
I can't say that I worry at all about being hit by either. The last time anything sizable hit the Earth was hundreds of thousands of years ago, so the odds of anything hitting in my lifetime are infinitesimally small. I worry more about real threats like global warming and George W. Bush.
2007-09-15 08:57:24 · answer #5 · answered by GeoffG 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Nothing is going to happen in 2012. Relax.
2007-09-15 00:26:13 · answer #6 · answered by aviophage 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
there's a chance, but it's extremely small
2007-09-14 21:04:42 · answer #7 · answered by sargeantb2 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
no.
2007-09-14 21:03:18 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋