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truthseekerdan
2nd November 2010, 05:02
University of British Columbia Professor published an on-line article that projected an 800m asteroid would hit Antarctica in the fall of 2012.

His article was on the www.phas.ubc.ca website for 2 days before it abruptly disappeared. The initial data was gathered by The Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Sub millimeter Telescope (BLAST) at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. The theorized asteroid was then tracked by Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea, which (with the Adaptive Optics Bonnette) supplies probably the sharpest images currently obtainable from the ground.

http://reinep.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/huge_asteroid_will_hit_antarctica_2012.png

One week after this mysterious article disappeared, “Canadian and American astronauts say the world needs to prepare for the big one — the asteroid impact that could one day devastate the Earth.Veteran Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is president of the Association of Space Explorers, which has prepared a detailed report on the asteroid threat. The Canadian Space Agency intends to launch NEOSSat next March to look for asteroids that may be hiding near the sun. The $15-million suitcase-sized satellite will circle about 700 kilometers above the Earth. A Canadian Space Agency official says NEOSSat is expected to detect hundreds of new asteroids during its first year of operation. It will also monitor the heavy traffic of satellites now orbiting the Earth to try to prevent possible collisions.”

The article hypothesized a 94% probability that the asteroid would impact on the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf and cause 2/3 of ice on Antarctica to crumble into sea. The article surmised the total collapse of all Antarctic ice within 2-4 months after impact. “A deep enough impact would crack the ice shelf like a window and total structural collapse would be inevitable, a few months at the outside.” If the ice on Antarctica was added the the world’s ocean it would raise them by 70 meters.

In January 12 and January 13, 2010, an area of sea ice larger than the state of Rhode Island broke away from the Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf and shattered into many smaller pieces. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua and Terra satellites captured this event in this series of photo-like images. The ice of the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf can be as thick as 600 m; the water below is about 1400 m deep at the deepest point. The international Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf Programme (FRISP) was initiated in 1973 to study the glaciological regime of the ice shelf.

Source: http://reinep.wordpress.com/2010/09/08/huge-asteroid-will-hit-antarctica-in-2012/

Jonathon
2nd November 2010, 05:19
Yay 2012 is back on! :behindsofa:

kcw_one
2nd November 2010, 05:59
Right on! Another 2012 doomish scenario to get all panicky about!

Chakra
2nd November 2010, 08:06
And the plot thickens! :)

http://www.phas.ubc.ca/News/index.phtml#NoKillerAsteroid

2010-09-10 UBC Astronomy Linked to web hoax
DON'T BE FOOLED BY THE LATEST WEB HOAX

An unusual - and totally ridiculous - conspiracy theory has emerged on the Web connecting UBC Physics & Astronomy, the Antarctic ice shelf, and the threat of a devastating asteroid impact.
Quoting the version of this cosmic urban myth which started circulating yesterday: "University of British Columbia Professor published an on-line article that projected an 800m asteroid would hit Antarctica in the fall of 2012. His article was on the www.phas.ubc.ca website for 2 days before it abruptly disappeared. The initial data was gathered by The Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Sub millimeter Telescope (BLAST) at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. The theorized asteroid was then tracked by Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea, which (with the Adaptive Optics Bonnette) supplies probably the sharpest images currently obtainable from the ground."

The ONLY true parts of this statement are: (1) there is indeed a balloon-borne instrument called BLAST in which UBC is a key partner, and it does collect data over Antarctica; and (2) the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope and its adaptive optics system do obtain superbly sharp astronomical images.

The rest is ridiculous. BLAST cannot detect asteroids. And no one could extrapolate the orbital path of a newly discovered asteroid to predict two years in advance that it would strike Antarctica (vs. other spots on Earth). No such article ever appeared on the UBC Physics & Astronomy web site.

This is a story on a par with the annual "Mars as big as the Full Moon" hoax that makes the rounds on the web, except that in this case, it can cause people undue alarm. The only reaction to this story should be amusement, followed by anger that some people are willing to prey on public fears and their interest in astronomy.

Dr. Jaymie Matthews

Bill Ryan
2nd November 2010, 11:41
http://www.phas.ubc.ca/News/index.phtml#NoKillerAsteroid

2010-09-10 UBC Astronomy Linked to web hoax
DON'T BE FOOLED BY THE LATEST WEB HOAX



[snip...]

Dr. Jaymie Matthews

Well done, Renee. :)

The only asteroid that comes anywhere remotely close to the Earth in 2012 is Eros:

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/neofact.html

Eros is huge and clearly visible (certainly a near ELE if it ever struck Earth), but the fly-by distance is 0.179 AU - which is 69 times as far away as the Moon. No possible chance of a hit, or a wrong orbital calculation.

For anyone still doubting this is a hoax, it'd be mathematically impossible to predict the exact location of an impact with 94% accuracy so far in advance. The refutation from Dr Matthews rang totally true and all the data there is reliable and can be checked.

Kulapops
2nd November 2010, 11:47
Dates, dates dates ! Today is the day we need to worry about :)

Anyway, I prefer fig rolls myself.

K

jiix
2nd November 2010, 21:48
I was going to say, I live right near UBC, things like this I get to hear about pretty quickly by word of mouth if only from friends at UBC, and this is the first Ive heard about this haha.

Bill Ryan
3rd November 2010, 00:35
I just changed the title of the thread.

:)

truthseekerdan
3rd November 2010, 01:15
I just changed the title of the thread.

:)

Thanks Bill, I trust you know this better...:pray: :wink:

Beth
3rd November 2010, 01:22
Thanks Bill, I trust you know this better...:pray: :wink:

He's had a lot of coffee today and in super duper mod mode today ;)