[extropy-chat] NEO deflection

[The Avantguardian]

--- David Lubkin <extropy at unreasonable.com> wrote:

> >The asteroid under discussion, with the provisional
> designation 2004 MN4, 
> >has now been assigned the number 99942 and the name
> Apophis. (Apophis was 
> >the Greek name of the Egyptian god Apep, "the
> destroyer.")  Therefore, I 
> >use this name below.
> >2.  Background Review
> >Apophis will make a very close pass by Earth
> (roughly 37,000 km) on April 
> >13, 2029.  The deflection of its trajectory by
> Earth's gravity at that 
> >time will greatly magnify the uncertainty in its
> orbit, making predictions 
> >of a possible future collision with Earth difficult
> at this time.
  
What moron thought that dark eyptian gods were a good
naming convention for this sort of thing. I mean if
you are trying to scare funding out the public I can
see why someone would do it. But asteroids are pretty
scary on their own to anyone with half a brain.

After all they did not call hurricanes like Andrew -
Shiva the Destroyer - and such they kill thousands of
people. Why add fuel to the fires of superstition?
Most especially because April 13, 2029 is a Friday. 

If you were Bruce Willis on some suicide mission to
save the planet on Friday the 13th, wouldn't you
rather go up against Fred the asteroid than Apophis
the god of destruction that eats the sun? Especially
when you are reliant on an army of twitchy
astrophysicists and telemetry technicians on Earth?

Just some common sense kicking in here.

 




The Avantguardian 
is 
Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"The surest sign of intelligent life in the universe is that they haven't attempted to contact us." 
-Bill Watterson

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