I couldn’t figure out how to work that in.
Thanks.
Jordy!
But, the Earth does contain radioisotopes. Given that Earth and meteors are made of the same elements, shouldn’t we then expect that meteors would contain some, too?
Yes, but I assumed that by “radioactive” he meant more radioactive than a banana.
I’m not worried. Apparently when these aliens get mad, all they can do is throw rocks.
Throwing meteors at Earth is no big deal. When the aliens throw the Earth into the Sun, I’ll know they’re mad at us.
Don’t let Manny and the Prof hear you say that! Mike would take it as a challenge and I don’t think even Wyoh could save you.
As TMIAHM said, dropping rocks from space is one of the best ways to release a huge amount of energy in a small space. Way better than nuclear weapons. To be effective they need to use bigger rocks, but these first three are probably just preliminary target practice.
Ranging shots.
So, it’s the Bugs? Time to send the Mobile Force?
Service guarantees Citizenship!
Can’t rule out Gamilon.
Low build quality really pisses them off.
Welp, it’s clearly time to break out the 1920s-style death rays. And the Jewish lasers.
Um, most of this planet’s surface is water. There could be multiple strikes on water, right? We woudn’t necessarily notice them? Would we?
Which is why astronomers get so excited when they find a whole meteorite sample - because most of them that hit the earth are lost.
I think the fall would be noticed, at least on radar, but the meteorite would be really difficult to find.
Right. Most of the Earth’s surface is water, or desert, or forest, or mountain, or ice, or some other condition that makes it uninhabited, sparsely inhabited, or difficult to search. The Italy find is described as the several biggest fragments totalling around 70 grams. That’s around the size of a charcoal briquette. Imagine searching–on foot–for individual charcoal briquettes in a target area measured in square miles. (Most of the word’s recovered meteorites come from hot deserts and Antarctica, which preserve them for thousands of years but fit squarely in the sparsely inhabited and very deadly to search if you aren’t well prepared categories.)
(ETA astronomers aren’t particularly likely to know a lot more about meteorites than the general public. The relevant science is meteoritics, done by meteoriticists.)
Although, you can often see a fall from a considerable distance from where it eventually hits. For instance, the Peekskill Meteor I mentioned earlier struck near New York City, but I was able to see it easily from Ohio, and some saw it from even further away. So even if the meteorite is never recovered, the odds aren’t too bad of someone seeing it coming down.
Doppler radar has actually recently became a very useful tool in narrowing down fall locations.
The meteor registered on a Geostationary Lightning Mapper