Sentences with phrase «greater than any asteroid»

That aspect ratio is greater than any asteroid or comet observed in the solar system.

Not exact matches

However, the Rosina mass spectrometer aboard Rosetta found that the ratio of deuterium to hydrogen in the comet is far greater than that found on Earth, adding to the growing body of evidence that the water on Earth was delivered not by comets, as previously thought, but by asteroids.

Among other things, GRACE may have found a crater deep under the Antarctic ice that may mark an asteroid impact greater than the one that doomed the dinosaurs, measured the seafloor displacement that triggered the tsunami of 2004, and quantified changes in subsurface water in the Amazon and Congo river basins.

Although the consequences are roughly comparable in either case, an important difference is that objects in the solar system that circle far away from the sun on long - period orbits before returning, such as comets, would hit the earth at much greater velocities than close - orbiting (short - period) bodies, such as asteroids.

There may be a million asteroids with masses far greater than ocean liners in Earth - approaching orbits, nearly all of which telescopes have yet to see.

However, an asteroid 200 meters wide (more than 650 feet) headed for a densely - populated city poses a greater risk and could warrant a more involved response, he said.

Nevertheless, they wrote, «The asteroid - threat community has been much more successful than the climate change community in characterizing the dominant worst - case scenarios and communicating them to policymakers, the media and the public — even though the climate change threat is more than a thousand times greater..., [therefore] quantitative comparison of climate change to asteroid impact is a valuable way to put both threats into perspective.»

So far, surveys have discovered several thousand near - Earth objects, but astronomers estimate that as many as a million have diameters greater than 50 metres, big enough to be dangerous in a collision with Earth (see UN urged to coordinate killer asteroid defences).

That aspect ratio is greater than that of any asteroid or comet observed in our solar system to date.

While I'm posting (I can see how you guys get into this) I'm also very uncomfortable with your notion of «tacit knowledge:» it certainly seems to be tacit knowledge in the blogosphere that the chances of the climate sensitivity (equilibrium warming on indefinite stabilization at 560ppm CO2, for the non-enthusiasts) being greater than or equal to 6 degrees are too small to be worth worrying about (meaning down at the level of an asteroid strike).

Greater uncertainty, I suppose, and more catastrophic outcome than asteroid impact or any of the other scenarios that have been discussed.