back to article 'Nanodiamond' asteroid tracked from space to desert impact

An international alliance of astronomers are exceedingly chuffed to announce the first occasion of an asteroid being tracked from space, through impact with the Earth's atmosphere and thence to recovery of fragments on the ground. "Any number of meteorites have been observed as fireballs and smoking meteor trails as they come …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Don't need to be a scientist

    to know that the Nubian desert is very hot - that's why the carbon appears cooked - because it has been !!!

    Speaking of hot....

  2. Adrian Jones
    Thumb Up

    Excellent

    Classic boffin hair style there. :)

  3. Goatan
    Gates Horns

    Rockopocalypse

    I think I have just found the name for an allmighty Metal band

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    rockopocalypse?

    Arockalypse, shurely?

  5. Nick
    Paris Hilton

    Heathrow Airport Sized?

    So that's about 46 Brontosauruses long then is it?

    Use the correct measurements please.

    Paris because the meteorites would have been Hot! Hot! Hot!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    superheated?

    Of course it was, all the pieces of Alderaan left after the Death Star's attack would have been superheated

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    80 tonnes car sized?

    What are they driving? Dodge Rams?

  8. whiff
    Flame

    Mitigate the potential effects?

    How pray tell would one mitigate the effects of a mountian sized lump of rock hitting the earth??

  9. Chris Seiter
    Flame

    Arockalypse?

    rocklobster?

    Goes well with melted butter and lemon..

  10. Alien8n

    @AC

    I can believe 80 tonnes is car sized. Remember that a car is primarily a shell full of air (or hot air in the case of a politician's chauffer driven version). Think how little is actually in a car and then realise that the average car is about 2 tonnes alone...

  11. Hollerith
    Thumb Up

    Science showing itself at its finest

    A community of professionals and amateurs band together, and then, where the world thinks only mayhem and 'less advanced' third-world conditions exist, local scientists and students take on finding the last piece of the event. I presume the internet played its part...

    This is the world I want to live in, one where we are all engaged in reality, marveling at it, studying it, joining hands around the globe to share and help each other in our quest to know more.

  12. E

    Excellent work!

    Impressive. And Dr Muawia Shaddad deserves further recognition for having the best hairdo since Einstein!

  13. jake Silver badge

    @AC 16:44

    I think you'll find that the density of your average bit of rock is quite a bit higher than your average auto ... more along the lines of the density of your average driver, in fact.

  14. Kanhef
    Thumb Up

    @Hollerith

    Very well said! We need more of this sort of collaboration, and fewer politicians trying to drive us apart.

    @whiff:

    By making it miss.

  15. Scott Terril

    @whiff

    "How pray tell would one mitigate the effects of a mountian sized lump of rock hitting the earth??"

    I got it!!!! I got it!!! I got [THUD!]

  16. Nebulo
    Alien

    Just in case ...

    ... We should welcome our alien overlords.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @whiff

    Duck and cover.

  18. Goat Jam
    Coat

    @whiff

    Why, you jump in the air just as it hits of course!

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    Space turds?

    Well, they could be!

  20. Walking Turtle
    Coat

    @Goat Jam

    > Why, you jump in the air just as it hits of course!

    And then watch in amazement as the Earth rises at supersonic velocity to Just Slam Yo' Ass... For the life of me, I for one do have a remarkably challenging time thinking of exactly what any UN commission might ever do to substantively mitigate any such cosmic event's inevitable local consequences, whether immediate or long term.

    Anyone from the UN reading this? Earth to Commission Control... We have a question... Y'got'cher ears on?

    Coat. Mine's the one with the 2-meter handheld in one pocket, and the Citizens' Band rig with the gooset-up final amp in the other... One of those Mountainous Things hits or even grazes our watery blue-green unfashionable and Mostly Harmless planet, though, there's really no point to either, I think.

    It's a ride until it's over. Then it's still a ride. Maybe with a joke in between...

  21. Pascal Monett Silver badge
    Joke

    They've found it !

    Your prodigal use of scientific terms nonwithstanding, any 1st-level mage would immediately recognize this piece of rock for what it is : starmetal. Now, could somebody please make a +5 sword out of it ?

  22. Osiris

    @whiff

    By having Bruce Willis on stand-by?

  23. caffeine addict

    Heathrow

    When did the Heathrow become an official ElReg unit of measurement?

    And how many MegaHeathrows to a Wales?

  24. caffeine addict
    Thumb Up

    Heathrows per Wales

    Don't worry (I know you all were) - I'm that bored that I've worked it out myself... There are 1,712 Heathrows in a Wales. So it was about 58 microWales in size.

    Is it nearly pub time...?

  25. Mike

    Neildiamond?

    "Love on the rocks"

    Someone (old enough) had to say it "ain't no surprise"......

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Not an Ausrock

    Good thing the rock came from the North otherwise it would not have been spotted. Australia's idiot Howard government, now evicted thankfully, closed down the watch from the South. Kevin Rudd restore the watch!

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