Alex,
Was the person asking this question, one of the attendees of yesterday's
event, with a telescope? If so, i have their email and can forward this
data to them, if you wish me to.
Also, did you want to take this info you provided here, and turn it into an
article for the newsletter? Would love to include this research as an
informational article in our own newsletter, for others to read. : )
Terri
On Sun, May 31, 2015 at 7:19 PM, Alex Vrenios <axv@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Someone at the Bookman’s Workshop this afternoon asked about the “safe
distance” one would need to be to see the Meteor Crater Impact, yet not be
adversely affected by it. I thought that sounded familiar.
Sure enough, on page 44 of the June issue of Astronomy Magazine (the Ask
Astro” column) there is an answer to that very question.
David King suggests that a nice safe distance of 40 miles, perhaps near
the top of Mt. Elden would provide a safe, spectacular view. He goes on to
say that the 20 megaton blast would be instantly lethal to any living thing
within a 4 mile radius. The pressure of the shock wave would cause severe
lung damage to anyone within 6 or 7 miles. And the high winds (900 mph
within a 4 mile radius, and 60 mph up to 12 miles away) would pick up dust
and debris, acting like a shotgun blast, taking down mammoths, mastodons
and giant ground sloths along its path.
Should we be so unlucky as to have another opportunity to witness such an
event, I expect the technology would allow us to pinpoint the location of
the impact, giving us plenty of time to get settled in some safely distant
location with a particularly good view. In fact, the logistics of
publishing and setting up travel opportunities to such sights might make a
good plot for a Sci-Fi movie!
Alex
