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Old February 17th 17, 03:08 PM posted to sci.astro.amateur
Chris L Peterson
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Default June 30th is Asteroid Day!

On Thu, 16 Feb 2017 22:20:51 -0800 (PST), Quadibloc
wrote:

On Thursday, February 16, 2017 at 5:07:50 PM UTC-7, Chris L Peterson wrote:

True enough. But let it happen just once and see how much money we'll
throw at it. We're very good at dealing (or attempting to deal) with
foreseeable problems once the actually bite us.


Of course, just *one* asteroid equivalent to the one that killed the dinosaurs,
if it hits, would leave none of us around to worry about, let alone deal with,
the next one.


I think an impact similar to the Chicxulub event would be insufficient
to drive humans to extinction, although it would almost certainly
destroy or radically alter our existing societies.

And a *lesser* strike might cause enough economic damage to lessen our means to
create a system to defend against asteroids, even if it meant we now had the
will.


Asteroid sizes follow a power distribution law. An event such as the
one that created the Arizona meteor crater is likely enough to be a
genuine concern. Something which could be regionally damaging is far
more likely than another dinosaur killer, or even something big enough
to substantially destroy our world economy.

Global warming is another problem that is even more urgent, though.


Certainly true. But the UN already recognizes that. Making some
recognition that asteroids present a potential hazard doesn't diminish
that in any way.