What a Shame we can't cite from popular sources

[.Scott]

Life would be so much more exciting.
Here's one from UK's www.express.com:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/scie...7-earth-crash-2019-date-nasa-asteroid-tracker

Of course, it's all very sensational - and they do eventually specify exactly how likely this asteroid is to hitting Earth anytime soon (slim). And one wonders how such a huge thing could "veer off course".

But should it hit Earth, it would hit this fast:

And at the point of atmospheric entry, Asteroid GD37 would likely hit the Earth at a velocity of 581 trillion mph (28.65km per second).

It's that 581 trillion mph that really gets ya. How could we even see such a thing before it struck us? How could we even survive its gravity wave while seeing it?

 

[Ibix]

It's the Express. Did you expect accuracy?

 

[fresh_42]

And what titles the SUN?

Doomsday on X-Mas!

 

[russ_watters]

Generally we accept news sources about real research, such as this.

It's that 581 trillion mph that really gets ya. How could we even see such a thing before it struck us?

It has apparently been updated to correct that exceptionally bad math; 64,000 mph.

How could we even survive its gravity wave while seeing it?

That question doesn't mean anything that I can discern.

 

[Mark44]

It's that 581 trillion mph that really gets ya.

It has apparently been updated to correct that exceptionally bad math; 64,000 mph.

Must have been a rounding error...

Of course, as we all know, "journalists" have never been known for their skills in complex calculations such as percentages and ratios.

 

[.Scott]

That question doesn't mean anything that I can discern.

If something with positive mass was traveling at 1000c, I am thinking that would be very disruptive to the neighborhood.
I suppose it wouldn't make sense to talk about its rest mass. But my thought was that it would create more of a gravity wave than your average collapsing Black Hole. But perhaps not. If it was the same as a billion tons appearing across the sky for a millisecond and then gone, that would not be a big deal. If it was better modeled as a continuous string of billion ton masses appearing across the sky for a millisecond, that could shake things up a bit.

 

[strangerep]

If something with positive mass was traveling at 1000c,

I sure hope you're saying all this tongue-in-cheek.

A tachyonic asteroid coming towards us at 1000 times faster than light? Well, we definitely wouldn't see it coming...

 

[phinds]

If something with positive mass was traveling at 1000c, I am thinking that would be very disruptive to the neighborhood.

Plus think what it would do to all those physics textbooks.

 

[.Scott]

My basic point was simply to provide an example of something that had gotten into the mainstream press that was sensational to the point of deceptive and absurdly inaccurate as well.