Fantasist's Scroll

Fun, Fiction and Strange Things from the Desk of the Fantasist.

5/29/2003

What if we got hit by a meteor?

Filed under: — Posted by the Fantasist during the Hour of the Hare which is terribly early in the morning.
The moon is Waning Crescent

Have you ever wondered?

Well, wonder no more! Scientists at UCSC have run a computer simulation of just such an event. There’s a pretty big meteor that has a 0.3% chance of hitting the Earth in 2880, but, not wanting to wait until the last minute, these folks decided to see what would happen if it hits us. Or, rather, our distant relatives.
Well, it might not be the most pressing concern, but it does provide some fodder for fiction. After all, these scientists are answering questions that a science-fiction writer might ask if they were going to write about such an event. They even have a picture of it, which I’ve linked to locally here. View image

It’s really a very interesting possibility, to me. Would new islands be created in the blast crater afterward? How would the ocean life change in that area? Would we have to deal with the darkening skies and changing temperatures that killed the dinosaurs? What will the Earth be like, say, 20 years after the impact? All very interesting indeed. Make a good story, or novel, eh?

1 Comment

  1. Well, thank you. Stay tuned, I just started working on a proper name generator. If it runs the way the others did, it should be ready in about 6 months or so. *sigh* That darn day job gets in the way.

    Comment by J. K. Hoffman — 6/2/2003 @ 10:58 am

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