this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2023
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Astronomers have been closely monitoring Bennu, which swings close to Earth every six years. However, the real cause for concern arises from the possibility that on September 24, 2182, Bennu could collide with our planet with a force equivalent to 22 atomic bombs. While the odds of such a catastrophic strike are estimated at 1 in 2,700, NASA is not taking any chances.

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[–] theKalash@feddit.ch 36 points 2 years ago (5 children)

a force equivalent to 22 atomic bombs.

What kind of murica unit is this?

Also there is a pretty big difference between 22 Davy Crocketts and 22 Tsar Bombas.

[–] luciole@beehaw.org 22 points 2 years ago

Wikipedia (citing NASA) states that the force would be 1,200 megatons in TNT equivalent. Tsar Bombas being 54 megatons, Bennu is 22 Tsar Bombas.

[–] agressivelyPassive@feddit.de 20 points 2 years ago (2 children)

A Davy Crockett is 254 square inch per fahrenheit-crocodiles, so we're obviously talking about an explosion of roughly 76 cubic pound per school shooting.

[–] theKalash@feddit.ch 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Are we talking saltwater- or marsh crocodiles here?

[–] agressivelyPassive@feddit.de 9 points 2 years ago

Freshwater, obviously. God, did you learn nothing from paying 200k for education?

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 1 points 2 years ago

I thought the Davy Crockett nuclear bazooka was stronger than that.

[–] WingedThing@lemmy.one 11 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Comparing high-energy events, especially ones that cause destruction, to weapons that have been used is very common, not just in "murica"

The lack of specificity as to what kind of atomic bomb is silly, though.

[–] theKalash@feddit.ch 8 points 2 years ago

Yeah, usually you put it into TNT equivalants. Which in itself isn't useful, but it allows me to look up which order of magnituted of atomic bomb we're talking about. And somebody actually put in the work and it is 22 of the biggest bombs ever. (which ironically are Sovjet, not Murican).

Anyway, It was really just a cheap "Americans don't use metric joke", don't overthink it.

[–] ink@r.nf 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Comparing high-energy events, especially ones that cause destruction, to weapons that have been used is very common, not just in “murica”

can you provide a few examples?

[–] shrugal@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Watch one kurzgesagt video about how to destroy the planet.

[–] unix_joe@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 2 years ago

The same kind that lists the Empire State Building in the headline, like it's the 1930s and that's still impressive.

[–] Sabata11792@kbin.social 4 points 2 years ago

Simple, ~88,400 hamburgers is too big of a number to reasonably visualize.

[–] Rodeo@lemmy.ca 27 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

That's 150 years away, nobody's going to do shit until 2181, and then the whole world will freak out saying "why hasn't anyone done anything yet!?"

References: climate change, housing collapse in Western countries.

[–] Nougat@kbin.social 7 points 2 years ago

And yet, the article is about how they're doing things already to prepare for the next appropriate action.

[–] interolivary@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago

In 150 years industrial society won't even exist anymore. If we're very lucky humans still might be around and the planet doesn't look like Venus, but I wouldn't bet on that

[–] luciole@beehaw.org 11 points 2 years ago (1 children)

NASA already landed a spacecraft on Bennu and picked a sample. It’s due to arrive on Earth in just three days.

[–] Rhaedas@kbin.social 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

NASA thinks it's a sample of the rock. What if...

Well, enjoy the next three days.

[–] DarkThoughts@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] thefartographer@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago

Call them Boeing bombs

[–] Rhaedas@kbin.social 6 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Afterwards we discover that Bennu housed an alien species, far more advanced but peaceful isolationists. Well, until we blew their home up.

[–] theworstshepard@lemmynsfw.com 8 points 2 years ago

Good. At least we won't have to worry about retaliation, dead and peaceful means we're double safe.

[–] Sabata11792@kbin.social 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

America 2 needed the space oil.

[–] CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social 2 points 2 years ago

That'd be on Titan tho, rather than some asteroid

[–] xvlc@feddit.de 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] thefartographer@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

160 years ago, NASA already stole some of their rocks. Now, they're back for revenge. Written by Google's Chat-GPT 14 and directed by the MPAA, Midjourney's Bruce Willis stars in the latest Amazon production: Bennu There Done That. Sponsored by McDonald's and available exclusively on Hulu.

You can skip this ad in 186 minutes, or if you'd like to be connected to Emergency Services sooner, consider upgrading to 911+ Premium™️ Instant Plan for only $24 more per week.

[–] douglasg14b@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago

Honestly, will probably see some of this in my lifetime.

Unfortunately.