No Danger... But Not Much Warning, Either

Astronomers made a first-of-its-kind prediction earlier this week, discovering a new space object on a collision course with Earth just hours before the two paths converged.

The Associated Press quoted Harvard scientists who announced late Monday afternoon that asteroid 2008 TC3 was between three and 15 feet in diameter, and would create a fireball visible on a west-to-east track at about 10:46 pm Eastern Time Monday night, or shortly before dawn Tuesday morning in Africa.

Donald Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near Earth Object program says there are now 5,681 space objects which could potentially hit the Earth, 757 of which are large enough to cause damage. The notice on TC3 came so late because the space rock was so small and dark. Yeomans says rocks this size hit Earth's atmosphere about two or three times a year, usually with no warning.

Harvard astronomer Tim Spahr told AP, "If this were something larger and it was going to hit the ground we would be able to get people out of the way." But assuming this capability has become reliable, we face some new ethical questions.

For example, after watching the gridlock which results from hurricane evacuation attempts, would you risk the panic which could be produced by 24-hour notice of an asteroid impact?

If an object is big enough to threaten an entire continent, where would you send the evacuees?

If there was insufficient time to evacuate, or even to put your earthly affairs in order, would you rather be told, or enjoy your last day on Earth anxiety-free?

Whew... that's a lot to contemplate, certainly. Now if you'll excuse us, we're going to arrange some light-hearted, escapist entertainment. How about "Deep Impact" on DVD?

FMI: http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/NEO/TheNEOPage.html