My.

Moolah!

2,639 days until the &#%^! or #&@! annihilation of humanity.

89 days since it was first noted that Pablo Fanque forgot to worry about our impending doom.
Day 22 of SMack's concern over Pablo's lack of worry.
Day 21 of Quash's distress about SMack's concern over Pablo's lack of worry.
Day11 of Jokerman's dreamy fantasies of Marsha Warfield.
Marsha Warfield has been Not 53 for 4,393 days.
154 days until His Royal High Excellency Fubar the First, the Majestic Ballsy Emperor of the Martian Monarchy commandeers that other thread, and 2,637 days until He and Phoebe Cates hitch a ride to Mars and establish their sovereign domain.
Day 972 of Ms. Cates being Not 53.
One day closer to the Nibiru calamity.
3,485 days until Coach Aranda turns 53.

Marsha Warfield Visitor Center Fund:
USD: $114.06
Box Tops: 2

Four days since Pablo Fanque said he wanted a revolution. Well, you know we all want to change the world.

To quote the inimitable Eve Plumb:
"Marsha, Marsha, Marshaaaaaaa!"

SMack said:

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2,639 days until the &#%^! or #&@! annihilation of humanity.

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According to all the stations on my tv, it is more like 60, 61 days.

2,637 days until the &#%^! or #&@! annihilation of humanity.

91 days since it was first noted that Pablo Fanque forgot to worry about our impending doom.
Day 24 of SMack's concern over Pablo's lack of worry.
Day 23 of Quash's distress about SMack's concern over Pablo's lack of worry.
Day 13 of Jokerman's dreamy fantasies of Marsha Warfield.
Marsha Warfield has been Not 53 for 4,395 days.
152 days until His Royal High Excellency Fubar the First, the Majestic Ballsy Emperor of the Martian Monarchy commandeers that other thread, and 2,635 days until He and Phoebe Cates hitch a ride to Mars and establish their sovereign domain.
Day 974 of Ms. Cates being Not 53.
One day closer to the Nibiru calamity.
3,483 days until Coach Aranda turns 53.

Marsha Warfield Visitor Center Fund:
USD: $21,114.06
Box Tops: 2

Six days since Pablo Fanque said he wanted a revolution. Well, you know we all want to change the world.

FYI, I've always been imitable.

SMack said:

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FYI, I've always been imitable.

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On almost every post in this thread.... though copied by yourself of course.

2,636 days until the &#%^! or #&@! annihilation of humanity.

92 days since it was first noted that Pablo Fanque forgot to worry about our impending doom.
Day 25 of SMack's concern over Pablo's lack of worry.
Day 24 of Quash's distress about SMack's concern over Pablo's lack of worry.
Day 14 of Jokerman's dreamy fantasies of Marsha Warfield.
Marsha Warfield has been Not 53 for 4,396 days.
151 days until His Royal High Excellency Fubar the First, the Majestic Ballsy Emperor of the Martian Monarchy commandeers that other thread, and 2,634 days until He and Phoebe Cates hitch a ride to Mars and establish their sovereign domain.
Day 975 of Ms. Cates being Not 53.
One day closer to the Nibiru calamity.
3,482 days until Coach Aranda turns 53.
BU84BEAR has been Not 53 for 1,260 days.

Marsha Warfield Visitor Center Fund:
USD: $21,114.07
Box Tops: 2

Seven days since Pablo Fanque said he wanted a revolution. Well, you know we all want to change the world.

SMack said:

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Jokerman said:

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Scattershooting while wondering whether there's a Marsha Warfield Visitors Center.
... or if there should be.

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I wonder if visitor centers attract space debris. If so, we should build it in College Station.

Or Norman.

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Space debris don't wanna visit College Station or Norman.

2,635 days until the &#%^! or #&@! annihilation of humanity.

93 days since it was first noted that Pablo Fanque forgot to worry about our impending doom.
Day 26 of SMack's concern over Pablo's lack of worry.
Day 25 of Quash's distress about SMack's concern over Pablo's lack of worry.
Day 15 of Jokerman's dreamy fantasies of Marsha Warfield.
Marsha Warfield has been Not 53 for 4,397 days.
150 days until His Royal High Excellency Fubar the First, the Majestic Ballsy Emperor of the Martian Monarchy commandeers that other thread, and 2,633 days until He and Phoebe Cates hitch a ride to Mars and establish their sovereign domain.
Day 976 of Ms. Cates being Not 53.
One day closer to the Nibiru calamity.
3,481 days until Coach Aranda turns 53.
BU84BEAR has been Not 53 for 1,261 days.

Marsha Warfield Visitor Center Fund:
USD: $21,114.07
Box Tops: 2

Eight days since Pablo Fanque said he wanted a revolution. Well, you know we all want to change the world.

Ruh roh, no box tops on this humungous bag of Frosted Mini Spoonies.

SMack said:

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The asteroid annihilating this woman is not practicing social distancing. It went right for the mucous membranes in the mouth!!

Apologize for my tardiness in replying. All Marshas are hereby considered essential personnel.

SMack said:

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Guns up!

My goodbye girl.

Because of the shutdowns related to the coronavirius, we aren't watching out for destructive asteroids as well as we should. The peril is great.

https://astronomy.com/news/2020/04/earths-best-telescopes-have-closed-but-the-hunt-for-dangerous-asteroids-continues

SMack said:

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Because of the shutdowns related to the coronavirius, we aren't watching out for destructive asteroids as well as we should. The peril is great.

https://astronomy.com/news/2020/04/earths-best-telescopes-have-closed-but-the-hunt-for-dangerous-asteroids-continues

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Don't click on this. It has a virus link. <-------not a joke

One catastrophe at a time.

OK, here is the article, so BU84Bear's carona'd-up computer doesn't spread the infection.


Earth's best telescopes have closed, but the hunt for dangerous asteroids continues
Despite more than 100 major telescope closures in recent weeks, key asteroid detection efforts remain online. Their task is harder now, and it's unclear how long they can keep observing.
By Eric Betz | Published: Friday, April 10, 2020
RELATED TOPICS: ASTEROIDS | EARTH | TELESCOPES
asteroid_Earth_1
Most of Earth's largest telescopes have been temporarily shut down amid the current coronavirus pandemic. But asteroid-hunting telescopes remain on the prowl for potentially hazardous objects.
Astronomy: Roen Kelly
As the COVID-19 crisis continues around the planet, humanity's gaze is firmly fixed on the pandemic playing out around us. Meanwhile, more than 100 of Earth's largest research telescopes have been forced to shutter their doors, Astronomy magazine reported this week.

It's the perfect time for an asteroid to strike, many space fans deadpanned in reply.


But there's no need to worry about an incoming asteroid at least, not any more than usual. Despite the closures, Earth's top asteroid-hunting instruments remain on the prowl for potentially deadly space rocks.

NASA funds most major asteroid-hunting efforts. The space agency has a congressional mandate to find some 90 percent of near-Earth objects (NEOs) larger than 460 feet (140 meters) across. As the name implies, NEOs are comets and asteroids that get a little too close for comfort.

The workhorse instruments in that effort are the twin Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) telescopes in Hawaii, as well as the three Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) telescopes in Arizona. And both of those efforts continue. NEOWISE, a NASA space telescope repurposed to hunt for near-Earth objects, is also still operating.

"We are an essential service, funded by NASA, to help protect the Earth from [an] asteroid impact," says Ken Chambers, director of the Pan-STARRS Observatories in Hawaii. "We will continue that mission as long as we can do so without putting people or equipment at risk."

Panstarrs1
The Pan-STARRS Observatories watch for asteroids, supernovas and other transient objects from the island of Maui.
Rob Ratkowski/Institute for Astronomy
Dozens of asteroids in a night
Pan-STARRS1 and Pan-STARRS2 are modest (1.8-meter), nearly identical telescopes perched atop the summit of Haleakala on the island of Maui. These modern marvels use wide-angle views and the largest digital cameras on Earth (1,400 megapixels) to map the heavens night after night. Each image is compared to an existing catalog, revealing the faint movements of light from previously undetected asteroids.


The Catalina Sky Survey works similarly. It has two detection telescopes on Mount Lemmon in southern Arizona, plus one more that's used for following up on new finds. On any given night, CSS has a good chance of detecting a new NEO. And sometimes, it finds dozens in a single night. Recently, astronomers used CSS to discover that Earth has a new mini-moon. (Although that mini-moon may already be gone.)

Detecting potentially hazardous space rocks is obviously step one, but follow-up is also an extremely vital aspect of NEO discovery. It's hard to characterize an asteroid's size, composition and orbit without collecting several observations of the object over the course of multiple nights. Just one-third of new NEO finds are eventually confirmed.

"Each NEO candidate must be treated as if it were a potential impactor, until impact solutions can be ruled out," says Eric Christensen, head of the Catalina Sky Survey.

In normal times, astronomers send new NEO entries to the Minor Planet Center, and observers worldwide then take additional observations to refine the objects' trajectories. Previously, this has let researchers track small, Earth-approaching asteroids until they harmlessly break up in our atmosphere, sometimes allowing scientists to recover fragments that reach the ground.

CatalinaSkySurveyTelescopes
The Catalina Sky Survey, which runs three telescopes atop Arizona's Mount Lemmon, has found thousands of near-Earth objects over more than a decade of observations.
Catalina Sky Survey/University of Arizona
Following up on new asteroids
But with most telescopes closed, there are fewer instruments left to confirm and collect details on new discoveries. As a result, the Catalina Sky Survey and Pan-STARRS have both been forced to tackle more of their own follow-up work. In recent weeks, they've had to double back so often that it's reducing their ability to make new discoveries.


One group that is still following up on new discoveries is the Las Cumbres Observatory global network, which has managed to keep several of its telescopes up and running. But even many small, robotic telescopes have had to close as their mountaintop sites are put on lockdown.

"Several of the most prolific follow-up sites in Arizona, Chile, and elsewhere have unfortunately had to cease operations due to COVID-19 concerns," Christensen says. "This has shifted more of the follow-up burden back to the survey programs."

Chambers, the Pan-STARRS director, agrees. "We are adapting our observing strategy to do more self-follow-up," he says. "This will mean we make fewer discoveries and that we will miss some objects that we would have found in normal times."

The other long-term problem is that social distancing restrictions have stopped maintenance work. The Pan-STARRS telescopes, for instance, will only be able to operate as long as the equipment continues to function properly.

Similarly, if a staff member comes down with COVID-19, the telescopes will be shut down. So, to avoid bringing things to a grinding halt, no two members of the Pan-STARRS team are allowed in the same building at the same time.


"To protect either people or equipment, we may need to cease operations at any time," Chambers said.

The asteroid threat
Contrary to headlines in tabloid news, Earth's chances of getting hit by a large asteroid are very slim at any given time.

Even the small, so-called "city killer" asteroids those spanning a couple hundred feet across probably only reach Earth roughly once every few centuries. And because most of our world is covered in water, they're unlikely to actually hit a city, despite the name.

Researchers discovered a near-Earth object in December 2017 that would soon make its closest approach to Earth for the next 170 years. Observations during its flyby revealed it to be something more extraordinary than expected a pair of equal-mass objects.

The last known such event happened in Tunguska, Siberia, in 1908. A roughly 120-foot-wide (36.5 m) space rock entered Earth's atmosphere at a blistering speed of 33,000 mph (53,100 km/h). The resulting friction heated it to tens of thousands of degrees Fahrenheit. And this, combined with intense pressure, ultimately caused the rock to dramatically explode some 5 miles (8 kilometers) above the ground. The blast, which is estimated to have released as much energy as almost 200 Hiroshima bombs, flattened trees on the ground over an area of roughly 800 square miles (2,100 square kilometers). Some sources suggest that as many as three people died.

Earth got relatively lucky with Tunguska, but that doesn't mean asteroids aren't still a major risk to our planet. In 2013, a space rock the size of a house exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, injuring more than 1,000 people as a powerful shock wave blew out countless windows, sending out shards of glass and debris. And just last year, one of these "city killer" asteroids, dubbed 2019 OK, actually passed between Earth and the Moon without astronomers noticing until just before it happened.


The asteroid caught astronomers by surprise because it approached from the direction of the Sun. And, like a baseball player squinting to locate a fly ball on a cloudless day, astronomers struggle to see small, relatively faint objects with our home star in the background.

Earth will get hit with a major asteroid again, it's just a question of when.And that's why astronomers think it's important to keep a constant watch, even during a pandemic.

Fortunately, there's only a slim chance humanity will have to face two global crises at once. And that's something we can all be happy about right now.

Ya hear me? It's gonna be all right...

The asteroid sent advance scouts:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/science/the-lyrid-meteor-shower-could-shoot-fireballs-across-the-sky/vi-BB12M1j0?ocid=spartandhp

2,597 days until the &#%^! or #&@! annihilation of humanity.

131 days since it was first noted that Pablo Fanque forgot to worry about our impending doom.
Day 64 of SMack's concern over Pablo's lack of worry.
Day 63 of Quash's distress about SMack's concern over Pablo's lack of worry.
Day 53 of Jokerman's dreamy fantasies of Marsha Warfield.
Marsha Warfield has been Not 53 for 4,435 days.
112 days until His Royal High Excellency Fubar the First, the Majestic Ballsy Emperor of the Martian Monarchy commandeers that other thread, and 2,595 days until He and Phoebe Cates hitch a ride to Mars and establish their sovereign domain.
Day 1,014 of Ms. Cates being Not 53.
One day closer to the Nibiru calamity.
3,443 days until Coach Aranda turns 53.
BU84BEAR has been Not 53 for 1,299 days.

Marsha Warfield Visitor Center Fund:
USD: $21,117.08
Box Tops: 2

46 days since Pablo Fanque said he wanted a revolution. Well, you know we all want to change the world.

It's happening!!!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/science/massive-asteroid-to-pass-near-earth-on-april-29/vi-BB137Tdc?ocid=spartandhp

Get these guys ready!

Oh, and, of course:

Donate!

Marsha is counting on you!

Oldbear83 said:

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quash said:

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One catastrophe at a time.

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Catastrophic distancing now?

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That's the China/Wuhan/Corona/COVID-19/SARS-COV-2 virus' problem. We had this catastrophe scheduled long before it was a thing.

2,589 days until the &#%^! or #&@! annihilation of humanity.

139 days since it was first noted that Pablo Fanque forgot to worry about our impending doom.
Day 72 of SMack's concern over Pablo's lack of worry.
Day 71 of Quash's distress about SMack's concern over Pablo's lack of worry.
Day 61 of Jokerman's dreamy fantasies of Marsha Warfield.
Marsha Warfield has been Not 53 for 4,443 days.
104 days until His Royal High Excellency Fubar the First, the Majestic Ballsy Emperor of the Martian Monarchy commandeers that other thread, and 2,587 days until He and Phoebe Cates hitch a ride to Mars and establish their sovereign domain.
Day 1,022 of Ms. Cates being Not 53.
One day closer to the Nibiru calamity.
3,435 days until Coach Aranda turns 53.
BU84BEAR has been Not 53 for 1,307 days.

Marsha Warfield Visitor Center Fund:
USD: $21,117.08
Box Tops: 2

54 days since Pablo Fanque said he wanted a revolution. Well, you know we all want to change the world.