> At 11:14 AM 5/6/97 -0500, you wrote:
> So... let's apply what you said to planets... Mmmm... planet
> feel free to correct me.). Therefor, planet is not really defendable
> too.)
To get an idea of just how bad it would really be to be hit by a comet read
the original story on the subject, Lucifer's Hammer. You'll find it in many
book stores with Niven's other work in the Science Fiction section.
> So... let's apply what you said to planets... Mmmm... planet
To get some real visuals (okay, of a gas giant, but you'll get the idea in
a moment), see also the 1994 Jupiter/Comet Shoemaker-Levy Encounter at:
http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/Comet/Comet_6.html
There are a number of good GIF images here.
I would direct your attention to the G impact site. The inner diameter of
the outer ring is a bit more than 7,400 miles across - nearly the size
of Earth. The thinner, inner ring is 'only' 4,600 miles in diameter.
Any questions?
Mk
> Doofus me writes:
> a moment), see also the 1994 Jupiter/Comet Shoemaker-Levy Encounter at:
Urr-r-r-rrk!!! That was the URL for the *G* impact site. To see all the
others, go to instead to:
http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/Comet.html
Mk
> On Wed, 7 May 1997, George,Eugene M wrote:
> OK, so here goes....
Cool... got try this one on next person who want start a galatic war..
:)
************************************************************************
*
*"To be or not to be that is the question."
*
*To be is infinite better then to be in the limbo flowing around...
*
*So..... Get a life... :)
*
I've been told that in the Japanese animation series Gundam (sp) movie Char's
Counterattack Char purchases an asteroid from someone (Earth, I believe) and
then turns around and launches it at Earth. I wish I had seen, just to see if
enough mechs could stop it or did they have to use a "special" bomb.
> Kyle Klingler wrote:
You can get Gundam's story line by search for Gundam Project at Yahoo.
(I think it is http://gundam.anime.net) Yop, he did throw one astroid
base
at earth, and I think he tried again at the end of movie but Nu-Gundam
by
itself stopped it. (or was it the new--type's psychic ability) Well..
anyway in the site it got all Gundam stories and bases of Gundam technnology.
Any one who is interested at Gundam should take a look there.
> On Wed, 7 May 1997, mark gouthro wrote:
> > >On Mon, 5 May 1997, Mikko Kurki-Suonio wrote:
> Why not?!!!
While I mainly agree, I'd like to point out that you accidentally misquoted
me. I didn't say that. Chun Wang did.
> Also, NO ONE would ever drop a huge asteroid on a planet. Planets are
Well, certain alien races might. And if you have no shortage of inhabitable
planets, you might waste one or two.
> On Thu, 8 May 1997, Kyle Klingler wrote:
> I've been told that in the Japanese animation series Gundam (sp) movie
Yup... they do this A LOT in Gundam. They chuck down big rocks, big rocks with
bases on 'em and even (uninhabited) O'Neill stations. Sydney and Tibet are
among the casualties, and I think Ireland in ZZ. But they never chuck rocks at
spacebases.
> I wish I had
Actually, they used psychic powers to stop it... But they did try to
capture it before it crossed the point-of-no-return and failing that,
blowing it up from inside.
it was actually a very cheesy ending... all the mechs starting trying to push
the asteroid, to no avail. Just before everything goes boom, the
brand-spanking-new Psychic Powered Control Unit from the most kick-ass
mecha in the movie (the lastest Gundam-du-jour) absorbed all the psychic
energy from all the earthlings who didn't want to die, and stopped the comet
in a flash of pretty colors and big circles....
brian lojeck
> On Thu, 8 May 1997, Kyle Klingler wrote:
> I've been told that in the Japanese animation series Gundam (sp) movie
> * "I have the strength of madness." Miaowara Shiro *
> In message <9705071732.AA22234@unlgrad1.unl.edu> Mark Gouthro wrote:
> > >On Mon, 5 May 1997, Mikko Kurki-Suonio wrote:
Not so easy. The enemy might have spent the last two years carefully
manouevering the asteroid onto course on the outer edge of the solar system.
It may not be detected until it is too late to do anything about.
Even vapourising a trillion tonnes of rock just means you're going to get hit
by a trillion tonnes of plasma. You need to push it off course, which may not
be possible for a civilisation with heavy ground defences, and few spacecraft.
> Also, NO ONE would ever drop a huge asteroid on a planet. Planets are
NO ONE would ever drop a nuke on a country. Countries are valuable!
Anyway, it depends on where the asteroid lands. It could do massive ecological
damage, and bring civilisation to its knees, while the
overall biosphere remains intact - ie survivors have no problems
living afterwards other than the fact that communication, transport, economy
and organised government are practically zilch.
As Phillip suggested, Lucifer's Hammer by Niven & Pournelle is worth reading.
> In message <01BC5AC5.652A0100@gren-exch-1.kpscal.org> Gene wrote:
> Comet Cannon
Armour should have some effect - each level of armour should
reduce damage done by one point.
:)
> Also, NO ONE would ever drop a huge asteroid on a planet. Planets
Or if you were sufficiently xenophobic you wouldn't care that the planet was
destroyed so long as the xenos were as well (eg David Weber's series).
> On Mon, 12 May 1997, Rutherford, Michael wrote:
> Or if you were sufficiently xenophobic you wouldn't care that the
Very true. In a war with aliens (and lacking effective terraforming), your
planets might very well be unusable to them and vice versa. So if it's going
to be a hostile environment to you anyway, why not make
it hostile to everyone?