what would a near miss with an asteroid look like?

[gunsmith]

Just what my nerves need.  Anybody ELSE read Lucifer's Hammer?

I loved it.

[MrsSmith]

Just what my nerves need.  Anybody ELSE read Lucifer's Hammer?

Yep. One of my fave end-of-the-world books!   
But at the moment I'm thinking we'll have a civil war before any other catastrophe strikes.

[geronimotwo]

Oh, yes.

BTW: Earth Impact Database.

this is from the above mentioned website

http://www.passc.net/EarthImpactDatabase/Worldmap.html

it seems logical that the most craters are found where there is the denser population.  i would assume the rest of the earth to be equally peppered, just the craters are as yet undiscovered?  either that, or there is a propensity for meteors to hit in the northern hemisphere (and i should move before february!)?

[BryanP]

An answer the original question, I'd say if it's a close enough miss we'll find that it smells like everyone in the world crapping their pants at the same time.

[Jamisjockey]

Yep. One of my fave end-of-the-world books!   
But at the moment I'm thinking we'll have a civil war before any other catastrophe strikes.

Meh. The american people are like the frogs in a pot of boiling water...

[Ben]

Meh. The american people are like the frogs in a pot of boiling water...

She's currently reading "Enemies Foreign and Domestic"...

[French G.]

Thread hijack and rant warning:
As an air traffic controller, I detest the term "near miss".  If they "nearly missed", wouldn't they collide?
Seems like its poor grammar, too.

No worse than "attempt to land" please just land. Or "we've commenced our final approach" no buddy, if you don't like it go around, this don't have to be the final one. "Practice medicine" No, practice on that guy, do it right on me thanks.

[lee n. field]

this is from the above mentioned website

http://www.passc.net/EarthImpactDatabase/Worldmap.html

it seems logical that the most craters are found where there is the denser population.  i would assume the rest of the earth to be equally peppered, just the craters are as yet undiscovered?  either that, or there is a propensity for meteors to hit in the northern hemisphere (and i should move before february!)?

There's more land in the northern hemisphere.

Australia looks pretty pockmarked.

[CNYCacher]

There's more land in the northern hemisphere.

Quite true.  I caused a stir on another forum by claiming "Most of the good countries are in the horthern hemisphere" 

[TommyGunn]

what would a near miss with an asteroid look like?

[MillCreek]

Virtually nothing west of the Rockies.  How interesting.

[RoadKingLarry]

Virtually nothing west of the Rockies.  How interesting.

Not even asteroids want to go to CA.

[MechAg94]

Correct-a-mundo, ATC cowboy.

Slips like that rate right up there with "hot water heater." (Who heats HOT water? We heat cold water to MAKE it hot.)

Well, most industrial steam systems pre-heat the water so lots of people heat hot water to make steam.  Some of our plants use heated water bath vaporizers to vaporize cryogenic gas.   

[AJ Dual]

So it's a hot water... hotter..er?