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Impact!: The Threat of Comets and Asteroids
Most scientists now agree that some sixty-five million years ago, an immense comet slammed into the Yucatan, detonating a blast twenty million times more powerful than the largest hydrogen bomb, punching a hole ten miles deep in the earth. Trillions of tons of rock were vaporized and launched
into the atmosphere. For a thousand miles in all directions, vegetation burst into flames. There were tremendous blast waves, searing winds, showers of molten matter from the sky, earthquakes, and a terrible darkness that cut out sunlight for a year, enveloping the planet in freezing cold. Thousands
of species of plants and animals were obliterated, including the dinosaurs, some of which may have become extinct in a matter of hours. In Impact , Gerrit L. Verschuur offers an eye-opening look at such catastrophic collisions with our planet. Perhaps more important, he paints an unsettling portrait
of the possibility of new collisions with earth, exploring potential threats to our planet and describing what scientists are doing right now to prepare for this awful possibility.
Every day something from space hits our planet, Verschuur reveals. In fact, about 10,000 tons of space debris fall to earth every year, mostly in meteoric form. The author recounts spectacular recent sightings, such as over Allende, Mexico, in 1969, when a fireball showered the region with four
tons of fragments, and the twenty-six pound meteor that went through the trunk of a red Chevy Malibu in Peekskill, New York, in 1992 (the meteor was subsequently sold for $69,000 and the car itself fetched $10,000). But meteors are not the greatest threat to life on earth, the author points out. The
major threats are asteroids and comets. The reader discovers that astronomers have located some 350 NEAs ("Near Earth Asteroids"), objects whose orbits cross the orbit of the earth, the largest of which are 1627 Ivar (6 kilometers wide) and 1580 Betula (8 kilometers). Indeed, we learn that in 1989,
a bus-sized asteroid called Asclepius missed our planet by 650,000 kilometers (a mere six hours), and that in 1994 a sixty-foot object passed within 180,000 kilometers, half the distance to the moon. Comets, of course, are even more deadly. Verschuur provides a gripping description of the small
comet that exploded in the atmosphere above the Tunguska River valley in Siberia, in 1908, in a blinding flash visible for several thousand miles (every tree within sixty miles of ground zero was flattened). He discusses Comet Swift-Tuttle--"the most dangerous object in the solar system"--a comet
far larger than the one that killed off the dinosaurs, due to pass through earth's orbit in the year 2126. And he recounts the collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter in 1994, as some twenty cometary fragments struck the giant planet over the course of several days, casting titanic plumes
out into space (when Fragment G hit, it outshone the planet on the infrared band, and left a dark area at the impact site larger than the Great Red Spot). In addition, the author describes the efforts of Spacewatch and other groups to locate NEAs, and evaluates the idea that comet and asteroid
impacts have been an underrated factor in the evolution of life on earth.
Astronomer Herbert Howe observed in 1897: "While there are not definite data to reason from, it is believed that an encounter with the nucleus of one of the largest comets is not to be desired." As Verschuur shows in Impact , we now have substantial data with which to support Howe's
tongue-in-cheek remark. Whether discussing monumental tsunamis or the innumerable comets in the Solar System, this book will enthrall anyone curious about outer space, remarkable natural phenomenon, or the future of the planet earth.
into the atmosphere. For a thousand miles in all directions, vegetation burst into flames. There were tremendous blast waves, searing winds, showers of molten matter from the sky, earthquakes, and a terrible darkness that cut out sunlight for a year, enveloping the planet in freezing cold. Thousands
of species of plants and animals were obliterated, including the dinosaurs, some of which may have become extinct in a matter of hours. In Impact , Gerrit L. Verschuur offers an eye-opening look at such catastrophic collisions with our planet. Perhaps more important, he paints an unsettling portrait
of the possibility of new collisions with earth, exploring potential threats to our planet and describing what scientists are doing right now to prepare for this awful possibility.
Every day something from space hits our planet, Verschuur reveals. In fact, about 10,000 tons of space debris fall to earth every year, mostly in meteoric form. The author recounts spectacular recent sightings, such as over Allende, Mexico, in 1969, when a fireball showered the region with four
tons of fragments, and the twenty-six pound meteor that went through the trunk of a red Chevy Malibu in Peekskill, New York, in 1992 (the meteor was subsequently sold for $69,000 and the car itself fetched $10,000). But meteors are not the greatest threat to life on earth, the author points out. The
major threats are asteroids and comets. The reader discovers that astronomers have located some 350 NEAs ("Near Earth Asteroids"), objects whose orbits cross the orbit of the earth, the largest of which are 1627 Ivar (6 kilometers wide) and 1580 Betula (8 kilometers). Indeed, we learn that in 1989,
a bus-sized asteroid called Asclepius missed our planet by 650,000 kilometers (a mere six hours), and that in 1994 a sixty-foot object passed within 180,000 kilometers, half the distance to the moon. Comets, of course, are even more deadly. Verschuur provides a gripping description of the small
comet that exploded in the atmosphere above the Tunguska River valley in Siberia, in 1908, in a blinding flash visible for several thousand miles (every tree within sixty miles of ground zero was flattened). He discusses Comet Swift-Tuttle--"the most dangerous object in the solar system"--a comet
far larger than the one that killed off the dinosaurs, due to pass through earth's orbit in the year 2126. And he recounts the collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter in 1994, as some twenty cometary fragments struck the giant planet over the course of several days, casting titanic plumes
out into space (when Fragment G hit, it outshone the planet on the infrared band, and left a dark area at the impact site larger than the Great Red Spot). In addition, the author describes the efforts of Spacewatch and other groups to locate NEAs, and evaluates the idea that comet and asteroid
impacts have been an underrated factor in the evolution of life on earth.
Astronomer Herbert Howe observed in 1897: "While there are not definite data to reason from, it is believed that an encounter with the nucleus of one of the largest comets is not to be desired." As Verschuur shows in Impact , we now have substantial data with which to support Howe's
tongue-in-cheek remark. Whether discussing monumental tsunamis or the innumerable comets in the Solar System, this book will enthrall anyone curious about outer space, remarkable natural phenomenon, or the future of the planet earth.
- GenresScience
256 pages, Hardcover
First published October 24, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 18, 2021
Al wat ouder boek, maar vlot geschreven en geeft een goed overzicht van wat er tot 1996 geweten was over kometen en asteroïden. Grappig is om te lezen hoe enthousiast de auteur is over Het Internet (toen nog met hoofdletters). Maar je krijgt ook een goede vertelling van de komeet die de dino's over het randje duwde of over Shoemaker-Levy die maar een paar jaar voor het boek verscheen op Jupiter stortte. De uitleg over hoe kometen stevige tsunami's veroorzaken zijn dan weer fascinerend en een beetje beangstigend.
February 20, 2019
An examination of the potential for comets / asteroids to hit the Earth and cause devastation.
I found bits of this book interesting, but the writing was very dry and the edition I read was from 1997, so it felt dated.
Reading time roughly 5 hours.
I found bits of this book interesting, but the writing was very dry and the edition I read was from 1997, so it felt dated.
Reading time roughly 5 hours.
September 12, 2018
Gerrit Verschuur has out together a well-researched if not particularly well-written book about asteroids and comets, and the danger that they present to life on Earth.
He is not afraid to re-iterate himself; in fact one finds oneself reading the same thing re-phrased several times throughout the book and yet, he omits some things, for example names of sources of observations for brevity. I cannot help but think that an editor started work on the manuscript with some initial suggestions but the job was never completed. One error of paricular annoyance is his continued use of the word "loose" instead of "lose". Was the editor on holiday when this was published?
At the time of reading, the book is about twenty years old and therefore twenty years out of date. Despite this, we get lots of information on asteroids and comets and what they are likely to do when they collide with our planet. One obvious omission is the detailed discussion of potential methodolgies to divert these objects in their orbits away from a collision course. Perhaps there was reticence due to our poor understanding of the make up of these bodies.
This book is ripe for a new edition with cleaned up text and an update on the science and knowledge that we have gained since, patchy as it still is.
He is not afraid to re-iterate himself; in fact one finds oneself reading the same thing re-phrased several times throughout the book and yet, he omits some things, for example names of sources of observations for brevity. I cannot help but think that an editor started work on the manuscript with some initial suggestions but the job was never completed. One error of paricular annoyance is his continued use of the word "loose" instead of "lose". Was the editor on holiday when this was published?
At the time of reading, the book is about twenty years old and therefore twenty years out of date. Despite this, we get lots of information on asteroids and comets and what they are likely to do when they collide with our planet. One obvious omission is the detailed discussion of potential methodolgies to divert these objects in their orbits away from a collision course. Perhaps there was reticence due to our poor understanding of the make up of these bodies.
This book is ripe for a new edition with cleaned up text and an update on the science and knowledge that we have gained since, patchy as it still is.
June 8, 2016
Was surprisingly readable, though the author has a tendency to repeat himself.
The big problem with reading this book is that almost everything I know about comets and asteroids comes from science fiction, which means I know a lot less than I think I do. I simply don't have the expertise or even foundational math/science skills to evaluate the author's argument.
He presents several different ideas which seem like they're probably controversial within his field (he admits as much in most cases), and I am not able to tell if he's a moonbat. He seems credible and professional, but, you know... I need to read more by different authors to say anything with confidence.
My favorite bits were definitely the author's survey of historical literature and research about cosmic impacts. Verschuur is clearly swimming in 18th and 19th century astronomical texts, and he's at his best when he's engaging with the oldies.
Looking forward to reading a book about this subject that is more recent than 1996.
The big problem with reading this book is that almost everything I know about comets and asteroids comes from science fiction, which means I know a lot less than I think I do. I simply don't have the expertise or even foundational math/science skills to evaluate the author's argument.
He presents several different ideas which seem like they're probably controversial within his field (he admits as much in most cases), and I am not able to tell if he's a moonbat. He seems credible and professional, but, you know... I need to read more by different authors to say anything with confidence.
My favorite bits were definitely the author's survey of historical literature and research about cosmic impacts. Verschuur is clearly swimming in 18th and 19th century astronomical texts, and he's at his best when he's engaging with the oldies.
Looking forward to reading a book about this subject that is more recent than 1996.
July 2, 2012
I now know more than I ever wanted to about comets and asteroids not to mention meteors - our place in this violent universe and the threat therein imposed. Interesting read and food for thought.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews