Don’t look now – but we’re currently seeing a series of stories about an impending global catastrophe. But, changing the reports of epidemics and climate change, this global catastrophe is caused by the impact of a giant asteroid. or the culprit. or both. That might sound ominous given recent events. Filme da Netflix “Don’t Look Up” Where Earth is threatened by a “planet killer” asteroid.
But to what extent are we really worried – and what would happen if this body really hits us?
My experience shows that deadly asteroids tend to strike in the summer months when news is poor on Earth. We may have gotten so fed up with the grim news about the spread of the COVID variant omicron and the problems associated with it that a deadly asteroid (or comet) could make a refreshing change.
Some British newspapers turned to Nostradamus, the 16th-century astrologer. A couple published stories in late 2021, and 2022 was the year Nostradamus predicted the world would end Giant collision with a space object. This hook has programmed objects that may (or likely will not) approach Earth in 2022.
My favorites list was published in the Al Shams newspaper, who described five asteroids He goes to Earth only in January.
The spooky headline and accompanying image of Earth in apparent danger are somewhat marred by the following phrases in the image, with the paper stating that “all asteroids expected this year will pass Earth at a great distance and are unlikely to ‘collide’ with Earth. our planet. “We have already missed (or missed) the first two asteroids on this list (2021 YQ and 2021 YX) that hit Earth on January 5 at distances of 1.3 and 2.4 million miles, respectively.
Aerial photo of Barringer Crater. credit: USGS
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No, I haven’t noticed them either – and I’m studying asteroids. Three more asteroids are expected to pass between 1 million and 5 million miles from Earth in the coming days, ranging in size from the size of a car to the Statue of Liberty. The person who gets the closest point will still be four times farther from the moon, so there are no points too close.
“Doesn’t it look” realistic?
Don’t look for an allegory, it uses the global catastrophic impact of the “planet killer” for the global catastrophic impact of climate change. It is a tale of corruption, corruption, and political and institutional self-interest that has been put before the health and well-being of humanity. It’s also very funny
Without leaving out too many spoilers, the plot revolves around two astronomers (a graduate student and her professor) who discover a comet that will collide with Earth in six months. They try to tell the President of the United States (played wonderfully by Meryl Streep), but she is more interested in the midterm elections.
The film pokes fun at right-wing American politics, the impact of donations to political parties on politics (and politicians), and the growing ability of modern technology to gather information about health, habits and lifestyle and the use of that information by tech giants. .
However, he’s not making fun of science: the comet’s discovery is (half) realistic. Which is what it should have been since then Amy Mainzer, principal investigator
Is the film realistic? Earth has been hit by large asteroids in the past – that’s why there are no gigantic dinosaurs roaming the planet today. It is bombarded every day with tons of dust and meteors. Planet Killer is sure to be written in the future (although it happens at most once every 50 million years) – and international governments take this a lot more seriously than it appears in the movie.
there well tested protocol To report new asteroids and comets, that’s what we know about those that passed close to Earth this month.
There are also plans to Mitigating potential consequences From an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. This often depends on the distraction of the asteroid’s path, because trying to shoot it down at the last moment isn’t feasible – it’s going to consume a lot of energy. The November launch of NASA’s DART mission, a technology test mission, will help shed light on how best to fend off Earth-threatening asteroids.
But where the “don’t look up” program hits the nail on the head is the lack of preparedness for an emergency if (when) it finally does occur and mitigation plans fail. I return here to the history of climate change. There is no plan B. In the film, the catchphrase of “Don’t Look For” is the denial that a comet is close to destroying the planet – portrayed as fake news.
I thought it was a great movie. It’s entertainment. But it’s not fake news. We are a global community and we must work together.
Written by Monica Grady, Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences, The Open University.
This article was first published in Conversation.
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