http://www.ezprezzo.com/videoclips/mete … ation.html

Can anyone tell what the point of this is, other than being sorta cool?  Not that I want a full transcript, but what is the woman talking about?

Following the Youtube link, and doing a bit of bit of Google research, it seems it's from some TV show/special on NHK, and is about what would happen if a meteorite of extraordinary size were to hit the Earth.

It really looks quite a bit like a videogame cinematic....especially with that music.

Isn't that meteorite in the animation a tad bit too much? I think I remember watching on the Discovery and/or History channel and hearing that all was needed was a meteorite the size of Texas to destroy the world.

The scenes of the entire Earth on fire STRONGLY reminds me of the news scenes from the game, "Earth 2150".  Even right down to the space view of the entire Earth being engulfed in fire, ash, destruction, etc.  Scary shit.

By the way, that's some great music... I wonder who composed it?

Well, the largest asteroid, Ceres is about 900 km in diameter.  The second largest is Vesta (about 500 km), and they drop off very quickly in size and mass.  ALL the masses of the asteroids combined  add up to less than 4% the mass of the Moon.  OK, being an astronomer, I'm going to give a quick science lecture (below), so you have been warned

I couldn't really tell the size of the so-called "asteroid" in the film, but from what I gathered, they're trying to depict a large planetesimal, which in reality would break apart the Earth if struck.  Early in the formation of the Solar System (about 4.5 giga-years ago), it is believed that a very large object (approximately the size of Mars) struck the Earth, but only as a glancing blow.  If it had struck the Earth directly, it would have completely destroyed it.  However, even a glancing blow was enough to tear a large chunk of the Earth off, and eventually form the Moon.  Fortunately, we're fairly safe today, because there are few planetesimals around, since most of the material has already coagulated to form the solar system!  Furthermore, Jupiter is like a large vacuum, attracting objects that could be very destructive if they were to strike the Earth (remember Comet Hale-Bopp)!  Of course, some objects are either perturbed or simply path through, and thus every so often a large impact will strike the Earth, thus leading to such events as the K-T extinction (which is the most famous, since it is believed to have led to the demise of the last of the dinosaurs). 

My overall impression of the film is that it's more special effects than science.  For some reason people, and (correct me if I'm wrong) the Japanese in particular have a thing for horrific disasters!   

cheers,

-avatar!

Hm, there was a show on Discovery HD a few months back in which the majority of footage from that CG was used.

That's supposed to be an accurate representation of what would happen if a huge meteor collided with the planet.  Something like that (to a lesser degree) is what's rumored to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, or something.

I find the lot of it fascinating. :D

Much, much, to a lesser degree is believed to have been the asteroid that delivered the final blow to the dinosaurs.  It was nothing like depicted though.  Certainly the Earth did not become molten!  In fact, the entire Earth has not been molten for over 4 billion years.  Also, just because you saw it on TV doesn't make it true!  I've seen plenty of stuff on Discovery which is very likely wrong.  I say most likely, because scientists don't always agree, and often when new evidence comes along theories have to be altered.  Keep an open mind, but be skeptical.

cheers,

-avatar!

That was scary as shit.

Avatar, thanks for the logic so I can actually get some sleep tonight.

If I ever had to die, I think a meteor strike would be one of the sexier ways to go.

Cool deaths? How can you not mention being eaten by a dinosaur?

Eaten by a zombie or dying in an epic swordfight are also pretty cool.

But the coolest would be falling out of a plane with your pants around your ankles and being impaled on the spire of a skyscraper. There. I called it.

I wrote a research paper about the K-T extinction several years ago and the impact was equivalent to 10,000 times the energy output of the world's nuclear arsenal. The impact instantly vaporized everything down to a distance of 40 kilometers and all that shit flew into the atmosphere and rained over the whole planet. I wish I could remember more details (or find the paper). It was some serious power. I do recall it left a layer of iridium over the whole planet - geologists use that layer to identify the K-T extinction.

I remember reading something similar to this that occured in 1913, somewhere in Russia. Something called the Tunguska Event, or something. From what I read, it was theorized that a meteor had exploded before it hit the ground, causing an eruption on par with a nuclear bomb . . .

This is frightening stuff, huh?

Taken from Expanded Universe, a collection of science articles written by Robert Heinlein:

   "In 1908 the Tunguska region of Siberia was struck by a blast equivalent to 30 million tons of TNT, the impact of which was felt by residents 400 miles from the site and which left in its wake a 20 mile radius of charred forests. Numerous theories attempting to explain the occurrence have been suggested over the years, but none has gained consensus in the scientific community."

Dude, you're wrong!  About the asteroid, but you're right about the explosion being more powerful than a nuclear blast (minus the radiation of course) I'll explain (this is my field after all
The event that occured in Tunguska was not an asteroid.  Although it was a VERY powerful explosion (by human standards), compared to the K-T event it was nothing.  Basically, it was a comet (composed primarily of water) that exploded before it impacted.  How do we know this?  How do we know this explosion was not an asteroid... because there was no crater.  Also, no pieces of rocks nor debris were found.  However trees were flattened out for miles, just as expected by a large explosion.   Therefore the most logical explenation is a comet... of course people have come up with all sorts of other explanations.  Some are remotely logical (but lack evidence), and some wacko (such as one theory that claims the explosion was caused by a short lived black hole)!  Anyway, if you want to calculate the approximate energy released by an asteroid, all you need to do use KE = 0.5mv^2 where v is about 60 km/s.  It depends on where the asteroid originates from, but 60 km/s is about average velocity.  In fact, the Earth is bombarded by asteroids all the time, and many many do make it through the atmosphere.  Still, very large ones (1 km or greater) are extremely rare.  If it makes you feel any better, it's unlikely that any asteroid will end civilzation.  It might however cause some other problems! 

cheers,

-avatar!

ps You don't have to take my word on this stuff, but I do research in astrophysics and have taught this stuff to college students, so I'm not just making this up!!

Very interesting stuff....Thanks for the history on the Tunguska event, as well as the calculation of speed for an asteroid / comet...At first I thought you indicated 60 km / h...(my car goes faster than that!...)...lol...

Nothing else to add, 'cept it reminds me, I need to track down "Night of the Comet" on DVD...still tragically unreleased...(though a bootlegged Laserdisc to DVD conversion exists out there somewhere....) Cool 80's Zombie / Isolationist film if you haven't seen it.

regards