Brace Yourself Earthlings (huge asteroid flies by on Wed)

[Minstrel Boy]

An asteroid big enough to wipe out all life on Earth will scrape past the planet on Wednesday week. The asteroid Toutatis is almost five kilometres long and 2.4 kilometres wide and shaped like a peanut.

Scientists say it will pass by Earth on September 29 with a gap of just 1.5 million kilometres, four times the distance to the Moon, which is a very close shave in astronomical terms.

At the moment Toutatis, named after a Celtic god, is hurtling towards Earth at 108,000 km/h.

If it deviated from its current path and hit Earth it would blast a hole the size of Australia in it and send up enough dust to obscure the sun, driving the planet into the equivalent of a nuclear winter and destroying life across the globe.

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2004/09/19/19PEANUT_wideweb__430x153,1.jpg
Toutatis - its peanut shape is five kilometres across - would stretch across Melbourne
from Government House to the zoo. If it hit Earth, it would leave a hole the size of Australia.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/18/1095394066111.html?oneclick=true

[slinkerwink]

1. boy, that's cheery news.

[clydefrand]

16. Well, maybe this will be the early October surprise!

There's only one good thing that will come of this if it does hit us---that is, we won't worry about the dumb ass getting elected.

[0007]

19. If the asteroid decides to become a meteorite ....kiss this civilization

good bye for sure. Then back to the one cell amoeba.

[reprobate]

31. And may the amoeba have better luck in elections than we did.

[StopTheMorans]

2. I guess it's time to eat, drink, and be merry

and abandon myself to unfettered hedonism like people did during the Plague :evilgrin:

[WillyT]

25. I Tried Being Mary, But Those High Heels Are A Killer Man !!!

:evilgrin:

[shanti]

33. unless, that is

you have your very own handy dandy bunker already prepared!:evilgrin:

[Spinzonner]

3. Mmm, peanuts ...

[Minstrel Boy]

4. Photos of the monster,

which is said to tumble through space like a fumbled football:

[alittlelark]

21. Makes me want to see Armageddon again!

I know it was a cheesy movie - but I liked it.

[Thor_MN]

35. Wouldn't "tumble through space like Bush foreign policy" be more

descriptive?

[Connie_Corleone]

5. A Giant Peanut Will Brush Past the Earth...

What did we do to make Mr. Peanut hate us so much??

:shrug:

[StopTheMorans]

7. possibly paid too much attention to crackerjacks and not

enough attention to our beloved peanuts? :shrug:

[punpirate]

17. M'self... I think it's all because of...

... G.H.W. Bush's "I wanna be macho, too" pork rinds.

From then on, peanuts got short shrift, and they don't like it. :P

[Langis]

8. Mr. Peanut hates us for our freedom!

We need to start the war on space!!!!

[Sparkle]

6. Will the earth move?

[LifeDuringWartime]

12. not any more than it normally does

n/t

[phantom power]

13. No. Not enough to measure, anyway

[reprobate]

32. Just right for the old song

I felt the earth move under my feet.

[soleft]

9. The Asteroid wants Kerry to win

:eyes:

[theHandpuppet]

15. Perhaps because...

... the only goober bigger than the one hurtling through space is the one currently sitting in the White House. I guess the space goober is aiming to restore some respect for nuts throughout the universe!

[peekaloo]

10. celestial dodge ball

wonder if TV stations will send reporters out in space to cover the story? :dunce:

[derby378]

11. Let's send Katie Couric!!!

Along with Matt Lauer, Ann Coulter, Michael Savage, and the staff of Newsmax.

[Jacobin]

14. Howar Dean was right

The world is NOT a safer place with Saddam behind bars.

:-)

[DS1]

18. I'll see your peanut and raise you a pretzel

:eyes:

[dansolo]

20. Maybe someone is using a pre-emptive strike against us

The alien equivalent to the Bush doctrine.

[1monster]

28. Wasn't there something about this in Douglass Adams' Hitchiker's Guide

To The Universe? Perhaps this this just the giant wrecking ball coming through in order to clear a path for the Great Cosmic Hiway that an alien federation is building through our Solar System...:scared: :scared: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: }( }( :D

[Swamp Rat]

34. Better believe it!

[Wednesdays]

22. So, if that thing disintegrates...

are we going to be deluged with peanut butter?

[Javaman]

26. I just hope there is a giant strewberry right behind it!

[Javaman]

27. mmmmm, giant PBnJ sandwich...

[MisterP]

23. that IS a peanut!

[Javaman]

24. yummm, giant peanut.....

[MisterP]

29. Jimmy Carter is behind this! And Klintooooooooonnnnn!

[amazona]

30. a miss is as good as a mile

I guess it makes a change from those times when they report that the asteroid just missed us after the near miss in question.

[Karenina]

36. Calgon, take me away!

:silly:

[HarveyBriggs]

37. But look at the bright side ...

Fox TV won't be around anymore to blame it on Bill Clinton.

HB

[LisaL]

38. If one of them survives, they will still find a way.

[Deja Q]

39. Well, maybe I will contact that guy who offered me some MJ... and a link

:wow:

Still, extinct is forever. All good things come to a bend.

Now for some even more cheery news:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mystery_monday_040503.html

[Sporadicus]

40. It's a Space Peanut!

Afraid not. What you've got here is a big ol' chunk of frozen poopy!

[smirkymonkey]

41. Actually, the Asteroid is right here in NYC

staying at the Waldorf and preparing to make an ass of himself at the UN tomorrow.

[wtmusic]

42. NASA simulation

http://reason.jpl.nasa.gov/%7Eostro/ToutatisHires.mov

[wtmusic]

43. Exact coordinates of Toutatis for your location:

http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/MPEph/MPEph.html