Bring on 2022!

A Spacecraft is smashed into an enormous asteroid measuring 2,625 feet across.  (To put this in perspective,  a professional football field is 360 feet in length.)  Sounds like science fiction, right?  Well, guess again!  At a recent Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, the United States and the European Space Agency began planning to do just that.  They intend to send out a space probe to Asteroid Didymos and crash it into the oncoming rock.  Don't fear, however, the asteroid isn't on a trajectory towards our lovely planet - it will actually take three years for the probe to reach its target which will be 6.8 million miles from Earth.  They are hoping these impacts might break the asteroid apart and send it in alternate directions.  So bring on the year 2022 - I can't wait to see if this works!

Large asteroid headed our way? Pray says NASA

That's about all the United States - or anyone for that matter - could do at this point about unknown asteroids and meteors that may be on a collision course with Earth, Bolden told lawmakers at a U.S. House of Representatives Science Committee hearing on Tuesday. 

An asteroid estimated to be have been about 55 feet (17 meters) in diameter exploded on Feb. 15 over Chelyabinsk, Russia, generating shock waves that shattered windows and damaged buildings. More than 1,500 people were injured.

Later that day, a larger, unrelated asteroid discovered last year passed about 17,200 miles (27,681 km) from Earth, closer than the network of television and weather satellites that ring the planet. 

The events "serve as evidence that we live in an active solar system with potentially hazardous objects passing through our neighborhood with surprising frequency," said Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Texas Democrat. 

"We were fortunate that the events of last month were simply an interesting coincidence rather than a catastrophe," said Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, who called the hearing to learn what is being done and how much money is needed to better protect the planet. 

Nasa has found and is tracking about 95 percent of the largest objects flying near Earth, those that are .62 miles (1 km) or larger in diameter. 

"An asteroid of that size, a kilometer or bigger, could plausibly end civilization," White House science advisor John Holdren told legislators at the same hearing. 

But only about 10 percent of an estimated 10,000 potential "city-killer" asteroids, those with a diameter of about 165 feet (50 meters) have been found, Holdren added. 

On average, objects of that size are estimated to hit Earth about once every 1,000 years. 

"From the information we have, we don't know of an asteroid that will threaten the population of the United States," Bolden said. "But if it's coming in three weeks, pray." 

In addition to stepping up its monitoring efforts and building international partnerships, Nasa is looking at developing technologies to divert an object that may be on a collision course with Earth. 

"The odds of a near-Earth object strike causing massive casualties and destruction of infrastructure are very small, but the potential consequences of such an event are so large it makes sense to takes the risk seriously," Holdren said. 

About 66 million years ago, an object 6 miles (10 km) in diameter is believed to have smashed into what is now the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, leading to the demise of the dinosaurs, as well as most plant and animal life on Earth. 

The asteroid that exploded over Russia last month was the largest object to hit Earth's atmosphere since the 1908 Tunguska event when an asteroid or comet exploded over Siberia, leveling 80 million trees over more than 830 square miles (2,150 sq km).

Reuters

Calculate your life expectancy today

The Death Clock: Calculate your life expectancy today

Literary Yoga?

Literary Yoga?

One of the most difficult things for me is to decide how to find balance.  Do I work on writing my next novel?  Do I spend time with my family?  Do I work on social media?  Or videos, covers, agents, even strange new tan lines?  Since I still love my day job, I’ve got to find ways to successfully divide my time between the things I have to do and the things I’d like to do. 

In my humblish opinion, being successful in today’s publishing world is much different and more complex than any other time in history.  It isn’t necessarily more difficult, as there are so many more venues to showcase authors, but the sheer numbers of authors, publishers, and sites sometimes make it more difficult to be noticed or ‘found’.  While I’ve had decent success as an Indie writer, my goal has always been to become a well-recognized author around the world.  As the party planners for the ‘Historically Famous Author’ parties don’t necessarily care whether my wife and grandmother really love my work, it is important to have a successful platform to build upon. 

So, is it more important to work on my writing, my platform, my family, or my mastery of the Fallen Dog yoga positions?  I wish I could say that I use every moment in pursuit of either happiness or success, but the truth is that I probably waste just as much as I spend fruitfully. Since I have a dream, but live within the real world where I’m only given 24 hours a day and hopefully another 40 years of life, my belief is that I have to find a balance (and not the Sleeping Dog kind) that will help me find both happiness and success.

I try to give the taxpayers (who happen to still be willing to pay my monthly bills) an honest day’s work everyday.  I try to spend quality time with my wife and three daughters.  I try to get the proper amount of sleep, relaxation, and exercise (though I seem to fail on all three more than any other area in my life).  I try to keep up with platform building and social media.  AND, I try to make every minute of my writing time count. 

For those of you who want to succeed in today’s publishing world, my suggestion is to find a way to practice some form of Literary Yoga.  Spend time with your job, your family, your platform building, and your writing.  Don’t let any of them overwhelm the other, but never neglect any of them either.

Dystopian Trailer

Sharing a video to the trailer of Pyrolysis.  Enjoy!

Solar Flares Make Music

Science never ceases to amaze me.  Scientists are able to take the sounds from the sun and form a compilation that resembles the sound of music - not the Julie Andrews type though.  It's fascinating that they are able to take these sounds and understand the sun's own language.  

New Gamma Burst that Impacted Earth Discovered



A new discovery of an enormous explosion in space, sending out high levels of radiation is believed to have impacted earth during the rule of Emperor Charlemagne, between 774 and 775 AD.  Scientists have discovered this impact by studying the rings in cedar trees, which point that this phenomena occurred during medieval times.  This explosion is not believed to have been caused by our own sun, but more likely a collision between two stars or two black holes that were inside our own Milky Way galaxy.  These newly discovered tree rings have given scientists their best ‘guess’ at what might have occurred during that era. 

 

The Sky is Falling!

I am sure most of you have already seen or heard of the meteor that exploded over Russia yesterday, causing several injuries and a scare that won't soon be forgotten.  There are reports of another possible meteor (fireball) that blazed through the sky over California.  I hate to sound like Chicken Little, but the sky is falling! 

 

 

DA14 Asteroid Set to Pass Remarkably Close to Earth on Friday

I have posted a link about the asteroid DA14 that will pass remarkably close to earth on Friday, February 15th.  Bring out the binoculars or your telescopes to witness the event!

Geomagnetic storm expected in 1-3 days





NASA released a statement that the sun released a solar flare today.  This solar flare is expected to cause a geomagnetic storm on earth in the next 1-3 days due to its speed of 600 kilometers per hour.