Enfield Climate Action Forum (EnCaf)’s Post

This is a MUST READ for those that think outside the (confession) box. https://lnkd.in/dSJY3Cjv #nasa #spacex #aeronautic #spacetravel #newearth #insurance #liability #casualty #claims #insuranceclaims #transneptunianobjects #tno #science #sciencealert #restoration #restorationcontractors #risk #space #technology #technologicaladvancements #futures #stocks #engineering #geneticengineering #robotics #crime #energy #traditionalenergy #cleanenergy #ethics #geology #innerspace #theology #engineering #construction #windtechnology #banking #finance #futures #futurestrading #astrophysics #astrophysicist #marinebiology #microbiology

Getting to know Ganymede's hitter from 4000 million years ago. Naoyuki Hirata at Kobe University have evidence that Ganymede's rotational axis underwent a reorientation due to a colossal impact. The first clue was the realization that the purported location of the famous impact of the Jovian moon that took place 4000 million years ago, is almost precisely on the meridian farther away from Jupiter. That happens to be the same as an impact event on Pluto that could be studied by the New Horizons space probe, which caused the dwarf planet’s rotational axis to shift. Hirata then realized computer simulations to obtain the characteristics of the impacting object and concluded that the asteroid probably had a diameter of around 300 kilometers, about 20 times larger than the one that hit the Earth 65 million years ago, ending the age of the dinosaurs. The findings have been published in Scientific Reports (3 September, 2024). https://lnkd.in/dwuEGmQi #physics #physicsnews #astrophysics #astronomy #solarsystem #ganymede

Every Civilization in this Universe has its Ruler, such as a Person who directs ways that a given Civilization should proceed. I'm the Ruler of Planet Earth, I have always been but realized it recently. Dinosaurs ruled Earth for 140 million years, they weren't just "Animals", they have evolved to the point that they were with their minds exploring the Universe and that is the reason why they were destroyed by Nicolites. Humans have rockets and atomic bombs, so passing asteroids won't destroy present life on Earth. Humans have discovered technology, and as far as I know, that kind of Civilization that has technology is very rare in this Universe. It is possible for humans to physically travel to the Moon or Mars. The goal of Earth Civilization: Space Exploration.

Deflection Dilemma. NASA has “lost track” of Asteroid 2007 FT3 that is on their Sentry Watch List according to an article published Jan 2, 2024 on IFL Science. If it were to hit Earth, civilization on Earth would end on October 5, 2024. The likelihood of that is miniscule, it could have hit Earth in 2019; one might wryly muse that it’s too bad it missed us, but just watch and see how many end-of-the-world predictions pop up for October 5, 2024. As modern understanding of the cosmos has spread through humanity, it has dawned on us that if we don’t do ourselves in, we might suffer an asteroid strike that sends humanity the way of the dinosaurs. Movies such as Meteor (1979), based on the Project Icarus Report by MIT, and Greenland (2020) demonstrate some mainstream awareness of the remote possibilities. “Asteroids have us in their sight. The dinosaurs didn’t have a space program, so they’re not here to talk about this problem. We are, and we have the power to do something about it. I don’t want to be the embarrassment of the galaxy, to have had the power to deflect an asteroid, and then not, and end up going extinct.” – Neil de Grasse Tyson. The problem is called the Deflection Dilemma. Any of the proposed meteor-space-object defense systems would require both a violation of existing treaties and/or an unprecedented global effort. And who would anyone trust to run the meteor defense grid without turning it back to Earth? 1.    Any system designed to deflect asteroids from impacting the Earth might also be used to deflect normally harmless rocks to a path that will cause them to impact on the Earth, or 2.    If an asteroid were on a collision course with Earth, who decides which countries or areas are to be risked in the deflection attempt? It’s not a simple thing, even an ocean meteor impact could cause tsunamis on the scale of those that hit India and other countries in 2004. A meteor 60 miles wide hitting the Earth releases 10^31 Joules of energy, this is the apocalypse scenario for the Earth as the resulting shock and heat wave plus the burning debris thrown into the air would annihilate all life on Earth. The meteor that drove the dinosaurs to extinction was only 6 miles wide, and the flaming debris that rained down boiled the surface of the Earth. It is possible that we might reconfigure our ICBMs to hit a target in the upper atmosphere. Unless there are weapons in orbit – in violation of multiple space treaties, as in the movie Meteor (1979) that is about all we could do now. We’d have to hope the blast deflects the rock, or at least pushes the large pieces in the opposite direction (laws of physics) but likely the result will still be catastrophic. “All of us have a responsibility to protect our home planet. After all, it’s the only one we have,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. In October 2022, NASA’s DART mission intentionally collided with an asteroid, demonstrating that the small collision could alter an asteroid’s trajectory.

Have you ever wondered what would have happened if the Chixilub asteroid that made the dinosaurs go extinct hadn’t hit the Earth? Dinosaurs would have thrived and evolved bigger brains, while the existence of humans would be questionable. We would have survived but may not prosper and be similar to what we are today. However, the dinosaurs were not a very advanced civilization to practise agriculture, let alone deflect an enormous asteroid. Today, humans are testing our abilities as a planetary safeguard, the first step of which was the Double Asteroid Redirection Test or the DART mission. Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) was a Space Mission aimed at testing a method of planetary defence against near-Earth objects (NEOs); the DART mission was launched on November 23, 2021, at 1:20 a.m. EDT atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Space Launch Complex 4 at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The spacecraft aimed at Dimorphos, a minor moon planet of the asteroid Didymos, and impacted it 11,000,000 kilometres (29 lunar distances!) away from the Earth on 26th September 2022. The collision shortened the orbital period by 32 minutes (A significant success as the predefined threshold was only 73 seconds!). Surprisingly, the substantial change in momentum was due to the recoil of the ejected debris (called ejecta), which was substantially more extensive than that caused by the effect of the impact itself. This is because Dimorphos is a cluster of dust and boulders bound by gravity. Why Didymos-Dimorphos System? (And other facts) Why not a single asteroid? In fact, why target a binary system? The answer is easy: calculations! The change in the rotation period will be better calculated for a small orbit of Dimorphos around Didymos than the heliocentric orbit of a single asteroid. We have been tracking the pair for years and have collected enough data to predict its path and motion. This was calculated by calculating the fluctuation in light reflected by the asteroid. The asteroid system was closest to Earth in 2022, and this close approach would not occur for another 40 years. However, DART impacted the asteroid a week before the closest approach as it was at good luminosity then and could be observed from the telescopes in the Earth's Southern Hemisphere. The head-on-impact of the 500-kilogram, refrigerator-sized DART spacecraft at 6.6 kilometres per second likely imparted an energy of about 11 gigajoules, the equivalent of about three tonnes of TNT. The impact was a bulls-eye, with the spacecraft hitting Dimorphos. The size of Dimorphos was much smaller than Chixilub, which wiped out dinosaurs from our planet. Still, if Dimorphos had impacted Earth, it would have been six times more potent than the Tsar Bomba(the most powerful nuclear test ever conducted). For the detailed version of the article, visit: spats.co.in/blog/post/dart #spats #astronomy #space #dart #asteroid #chixilub #dimorphos #didymos #moon

**What is the duration of our solar system's orbit around the center of The Milky Way Galaxy, excluding Pluto's eccentricity?** 1. The solar system doesn't orbit the center of the Milky Way in a classical Newtonian sense; its movement is more complex, resembling a rough circular path with oscillations up and down relative to the galactic plane. 2. The solar system is influenced not only by the center of mass of the Milky Way but also by neighboring stars, resulting in a chaotic combination of effects similar to weather patterns. 3. Each orbit around the Milky Way takes about 230 million years, with the solar system dipping in and out of the galactic plane approximately every 30 million years. 4. Some scientists propose that these passages through the galactic plane disturb the solar system's Opik-Oort cloud, potentially leading to an increased number of comets falling inward and causing mass extinctions on Earth. 5. The Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (formerly known as the K-T boundary) marks the end of the Mesozoic Era and the beginning of the Cenozoic Era, approximately 66 million years ago. 6. This boundary is associated with a mass extinction event, including the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs, possibly triggered by a large meteorite impact at the Chicxulub crater in Mexico. 7. The Alvarez hypothesis, proposed in 1980, suggests that the high concentration of iridium found in sedimentary layers at the Cretaceous-Paleogene 1. boundary indicates an impact event that caused worldwide climate disruption and the mass extinction event. https://lnkd.in/dgQNbX9t https://lnkd.in/dZcP3Zsx

🚀 Did you know that the Chicxulub asteroid likely originated beyond Jupiter's orbit? Recent geochemical studies strongly indicate that the asteroid, which led to the extinction of the dinosaurs, came from the outer reaches of our Solar System  🌌 By analyzing the ruthenium isotopes found in rock samples from the impact site in Mexico, scientists have identified a unique signature that points to a carbonaceous asteroid—a type rich in volatile chemicals—formed in the cold, distant regions of space. 💥 This discovery supports the asteroid theory over the comet hypothesis and offers a deeper understanding of the forces that shaped our planet #keeplearning #EarthHistory #FossilFriday

WHY WE MUST GO TO SPACE Isaac Asimov: “The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn’t have a space program.” Bill Nelson: “Exploration is in our DNA, and we’re now ready to go farther than ever before.” @elonmusk: “I think it’s important to have a future that is inspiring and appealing…a future where we are a spacefaring civilization.” Buzz Aldrin: “Mars is there, waiting to be reached.” Stephen Hawking: “I don’t think the human race will survive the next thousand years unless we spread into space.” JFK: “We choose to go to the moon…not because it is easy, but because it is hard.” Carl Sagan: “The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time.” Neil Armstrong: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Yuri Gagarin: “Orbiting Earth in the spaceship, I saw how beautiful our planet is. People, let us preserve and increase this beauty, not destroy it.” Sally Ride: “The stars don’t look bigger, but they do look brighter.” Chris Hadfield: “We are not machines exploring the universe; we are people doing the best we can to find out what’s out there.” Gene Roddenberry: “The human adventure is just beginning.” Sources: NASA, SpaceX, BBC, ESA @MarioNawfal

What most people don't realize is that #astronomy and #geology are closely related, particularly through the field of #planetary_geology. Planetary geology, or #astrogeology, involves studying the geology of celestial bodies such as planets, moons, asteroids, and comets. By examining their surface features, compositions, and structures, scientists gain insights into their histories and evolution. For instance, planetary geologists analyze impact craters, volcanic activity, and tectonic movements on these bodies to understand their geological processes. The study of Mars has revealed ancient river valleys and signs of past water flow, suggesting it might have once had conditions suitable for life. Similarly, the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn are of great interest due to their potential subsurface oceans, which could harbor life. Which is why, today, we're talking about the #Geminids. This annual meteor shower originates from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon and provides a fascinating intersection of astronomy and geology. By studying the Geminids, astronomers and planetary geologists can learn more about the composition of asteroids and their potential impacts on Earth. This celestial event highlights how interconnected these fields truly are, revealing new insights into both the geology of asteroids and the dynamics of our solar system.