Good Evening Planet Earth, this is your wake up call...
Oh my.
It occurs to me that it would behoove humanity to start establishing both colonies on other planets and increased space based observation. Why, you ask? Because Jupiter was struck by a large object (which was undetected) fifteen years to the day after Schumaker-Levy 9 struck with a force exceeding that of the dinosaur killer:
New NASA Images Indicate Object Hits Jupiter
July 20, 2009
Scientists have found evidence that another object has bombarded Jupiter, exactly 15 years after the first impacts by the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.
Following up on a tip by an amateur astronomer, Anthony Wesley of Australia, that a new dark “scar” had suddenly appeared on Jupiter, this morning between 3 and 9 a.m. PDT (6 a.m. and noon EDT) scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., using NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility at the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, gathered evidence indicating an impact.
New infrared images show the likely impact point was near the south polar region, with a visibly dark “scar” and bright upwelling particles in the upper atmosphere detected in near-infrared wavelengths, and a warming of the upper troposphere with possible extra emission from ammonia gas detected at mid-infrared wavelengths.
Had that been us it would be game over, and even if we had detected it years before it hit, there’s bugger all we could have done to prevent its hitting or of ameliorating the effects.
It occurs to me that it would behoove humanity to start establishing both colonies on other planets and increased space based observation. Why, you ask? Because Jupiter was struck by a large object (which was undetected) fifteen years to the day after Schumaker-Levy 9 struck with a force exceeding that of the dinosaur killer:
New NASA Images Indicate Object Hits Jupiter
July 20, 2009
Scientists have found evidence that another object has bombarded Jupiter, exactly 15 years after the first impacts by the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.
Following up on a tip by an amateur astronomer, Anthony Wesley of Australia, that a new dark “scar” had suddenly appeared on Jupiter, this morning between 3 and 9 a.m. PDT (6 a.m. and noon EDT) scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., using NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility at the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, gathered evidence indicating an impact.
New infrared images show the likely impact point was near the south polar region, with a visibly dark “scar” and bright upwelling particles in the upper atmosphere detected in near-infrared wavelengths, and a warming of the upper troposphere with possible extra emission from ammonia gas detected at mid-infrared wavelengths.
Had that been us it would be game over, and even if we had detected it years before it hit, there’s bugger all we could have done to prevent its hitting or of ameliorating the effects.