This was only the size of a
kitchen table. Fair warning, what? Time we took this science seriously.
The asteroid 2012 DA14 which came within orbiting satellites' distance in
our Southern Hemisphere was half the size of a rugby field and packed a punch
of approximately 28 Hiroshima bombs. In realistic terms, enough to
flatten any major city.
Enough of a Wake-Up Call ?
Let's hope so, there are now UN investigations and a
whole lot more folk keen on accepting and co-operating about finding and
doing something about this very real threat.
Doomsday Prophecy Dec 21
2012.
Armageddon? ¡ª or just another day?
Society¡¯s gloom mongers seem
to be accumulating, like circling vultures, on the
prediction that mankind will perish in just two years from
now. These merchants of prophetic peril have based their pessimism on a
combination of old scripts, etchings and hieroglyphics from ancient
witch-doctory, all the way through recorded history to the current
so-called documented cyber soothsaying.
Nostradamus, the Mayan
civilization, the Hopi Indians, Ancient Hindu, I chi, WebBot internet
and bunch of other less cheerful sources, have some reference to the year
2012 which
¡®the end is near¡¯ mob can latch onto.
So we are going out on a limb
in pooh-poohing the fear mongers. FAIR takes the basic scientific
point of view that there is no absolute fact to indicate that the 21st
of December 2012 will be any different from any other day in the year,
or decade / century. We stand as much chance of being clobbered into
extinction by an asteroid or comet on that date, as we do tomorrow, or
as this is being typed for that matter. Although the longer it doesn¡¯t
happen, like an ¡®overdue¡¯ earthquake, the odds proportionally increase,
as in, an event that will 'happen¡¯ sooner.
Remember the dreaded Y2K bug
that was supposed to stop the computerised world in its tracks as we
popped champagne corks at midnight 1999? How bad did the world seem
during the Great Depression and dust-bowl years of drought? When the
entire planet went mad and declared war on its self, not once, but twice
within a generation? Shall we dare to mention the hype of viruses, flues
and global epidemics of recent media hype times?
We do share the fear produced
by climate change (¡®Global Warming¡¯ having been deemed a politically
incorrect term for our involvement in the Earth¡¯s environmental
destruction). On the 22nd of December I intend to wear a T
shirt with a favourite slogan I have adopted¡ Armageddon was yesterday! Today we have
a serious problem. The Doomsday Prophecy Dec 21 2012 is however only a date
on our self made calendar... and we have the capacity, and invented the
technology to thwart this particular global threat. providing we know
how to read writing... on the
wall!!
Note also that the
Mayan calendar did not take into account the leap year factor, which
would have made their ‘Doomsday’ last year on our datebook!
Only an asteroid can cause total near instant extinction !
Unlike Climate Change, Earthquakes, Volcanoes and other potential
catastrophes. A Giant meteor is a phenomena we could actually prevent in one
shot - providing we have the foresight to support the astronomers working to
detect and deflect NEO's.
The equivalent of THREE Hiroshima nuclear bombs exploded over Indonesia on October
8, 2009...
Yet it
hardly made news.
Had the same destructive energy been the
result of activity from a ¡®rogue¡¯ state, or a nuke of any country for that matter, it
would have dominated headlines around the world for days. So why don¡¯t we
care? [ read more... ]
November 18,
2009...Yet another example
of how a clear and present danger is often misinterpreted. "Enjoy
this video of a meteor lighting up the night sky over Utah at the
weekend. Fabulous!" (Guardian.co.uk).
Not unlike the pyrotechnics associated with 'Shock
and Awe' over Bagdad. The same weekend another over Johannesburg
South Africa was as spectacular. One day, the celestial fireworks
will not be so benevolent, unless we take notice.
One more warning Out of the Blue¡ª and Black
A small
asteroid, big enough to wipe out greater London, was discovered only
a couple of days before it was due give us a celestial bullet burn
on March the 2nd 2009. While sixty-four-thousand
kilometres may sound like a sizeable distance here on Earth, an
object travelling in excess of 12 km per second, could cover that
gap in about an hour and a half. [Read more...]
Next to global warming, asteroids are a piece of
cake ...
Ten thousand marine biologists are not going to save the Antarctic krill; nor are generations of volcanists
going to stop eruptions. However, all a handful of astronomy scientists
will have to do when the time comes is focus on a single space rock and, with some smart rocketry and scientific wizardry, bonk it off course. Viola! World saved!
[Read more ...]
The Discovery
Channel asked: "what if the Earth was hit by a 500km diameter
meteor?" The results are sobering, terrifying and strangely
beautiful. ... (click video on left)
The chance of a 500km wide asteroid
remaining undiscovered by now is extremely slim. However the real
threat comes in a much smaller form. Even a space rock only 60
meters in diameter (more frequent and numerous) would be equivalent
to a multi nuclear explosion. Tunguska, Siberia 1908, was one such
and it flattened an area as large as greater London... and we don't
yet have the technology to track near earth objects smaller than 100
meters
Yet Another Warning Shot
Across Our Bows ... [read article]
"I
found the articles, which are all about things that have, will, or might
collide with Earth, to be well written, balanced, and highly informed.
I
was shocked to learn about the near misses, and even direct hits, from
space." Kate Russell of Click
Online 14th April 2005
[Full
Review].
FUNDED
PROJECTS
2002 - 2008
FAIR
has helped up
research time
4 minutes, 46 seconds... That's how much time
it would take asteroid Apophis (2004MN4) to cover the 3,380 km that it's
predicted to miss Earth by on Friday the 13th in April 2029. Less than
five minutes earlier or later, and it would have been a very unlucky day
for everyone. Mankind's darkest day will be avoided in less time than it
takes to change a light bulb ... [Continued]
Pick
a number from 1 to 40 ... Say this number
represents a fortune. Now ask yourself, with only 39 others in the hat,
wouldn't you stick around for the lucky draw, or at least take time to check
the result? If so, then consider this: those were the odds we faced in a
recent
asteroid discovery. A slim
1-in-40 raffle ticket with no winner, only losers.
Why FAIR?
An astounding fact is that astronomers hunting
for near-Earth objects (NEOs) are so handicapped by lack of funding that
some observatories have recently been forced to close, in spite of
mounting evidence that asteroids are far more numerous than previously
believed. This is a contradiction in logic; we should be posting more
telescopes, not closing them.
What's the point of the
FAIR Society website?
To raise funds in the simplest way possible. Fair Society offers a
solution, not an additional worry ... [How
FAIR Works]
Who gets the money
raised by FAIR? The scientists who need it! All the money
raised by the FAIR Society is allowed to accrue over a year.
Administrative costs (5%) are deducted and then the final balance of
(95%) is made over the projects posted by various organizations for
consideration by the FAIR Society.
Once a project has been funded, it is reported on the [Funded
Projects] page.
Armageddonand
Deep Impact Great films, spectacular effects: but the
technical gadgetry at Bruce Willis's disposal is a long way from
reality. One only has to look at the Space Shuttle's record to see
that Hollywood scripts can do NASA a disservice, leaving us with an
unrealistic impression of their defensive capability against
incoming asteroids and comets ... [The
Reality]
When was the last time
you did something out of the ordinary?
Something different like joining a society against a threat from space.
The most devastating phenomena known to man is only partially researched
purely because this field of astronomy is so financially hamstrung.
We can never stop earthquakes, volcanoes,
or wild weather...
But, we could with funding, prevent an asteroid impact. No other science
can so precisely predict and act upon a global threat, down to the exact
date and time. Plus this indisputable threat can be solved for a
fraction of the cost of just about any other natural phenomenon, or
human induced future catastrophe.
"Bad economy? Don't have money?
You can still support FAIR... Donate your spare CPU cycles to the
effort of helping scientists identify and track possible NEOs by
signing at
http://orbit.psi.edu/oah/index.php
Saving the
planet starts at home
¡
Need
some humour in your life? Something to take your mind off the
rat-race, traffic, geopolitics, taxes, and falling meteorites...
[more]
WHY DO
WE WAIT UNTIL IT'S TOO LATE? Authorities have been proven wrong.
Regional governments deemed the Asian tsunami improbable for another
70 years and dithered. Wouldn't it have been better to donate €15
towards a tsunami early-warning system prior to Boxing Day 2004?
Meteor,
meteorite, meteoroid, asteroid ... what's the difference?
A meteor is the phenomenon created when a meteoroid or
asteroid enters the Earth¡¯s atmosphere creating the bright light.
A meteorite is the name given to the object when it hits the ground.
What¡¯s the difference between an asteroid and a meteoroid?
It all comes down to size. A meteoroid is anything from the size of a
grain of sand
up to a boulder. Anything bigger than that is considered an asteroid.
ALTERNATIVES! Whether you have a service/equipment
to offer or are directly involved in asteroid research, I would be
more than happy to post your wish list on this site free of charge.
Please contact us.
THERE WILL NEVER BE AN ¡°ALL CLEAR¡±
Astronomers know an asteroid is on collision course; it's only a
matter of how far into the future this event will take
place¡ªhopefully when we have fully developed the technology to deal
with it.
Becoming a member...
What's in it for you?... [more]
Member's Comment: "Fifteen euros is not much to ask for a
lifetime membership which proves the fee is fully utilized."
Marc Bogerd, Thailand, 16/07/04.
All Comments
Giant Meteorites Not on Your List of Concerns?
Then, think of this as a project to save the donkeys! ...[more]
FAIR Society endorses a spam-free Internet. Your
e-mail address will not be sold, leased, or given to anyone; nor
will members ever receive any future solicitous e-mail. Just
five minutes of your time today could make a difference to all our
tomorrows. Join this crucial aspect of space exploration.
With gratitude to Fotis Theodoratos of
www.weballoy.gr
for hosting and for his steadfast technical support over the years.
There is nothing mystical
about this project or the subject matter it addresses. It is as down to
earth as any other science that suffers from a lack of funding. We
are helping construct an early-warning system that concerns our planet's future.If a
difference can be made, credit will belong to a list of people who spared a
thought for our
future concerning an extraterrestrial natural phenomena.I
invite you to have a browse, take your mind off the troubles of today, and
experience a new horizon, something
unusual, a positive escape, not something new to worry about.Together we can help scan the gap in our scientific horizons and
remove the blind spot in our astronomical future.The society was founded in 1999 and has been in operation since
2002. We are an audited nonprofit organization operating under legitimate
charitable guidelines, whereby
anyone from anywhere can directly assist in the search for asteroids.Many hands
make light work is the basic principle, and actions speak louder than
words. FAIR offers the opportunity to act.
