An interesting (crazy) comet theory.

[maw lod qan]

Been reading almost everything I can find online about C/2019 q4. While reading some ideas of collecting particles left behind it, being we're not able to get anything out fast enough to get near it, the comments turned to the possibility of a comet striking the Earth.

It was mentioned that the chance of a comet hitting us is very slim, that space is very big and matter is only a small percentage of space.

Here's where I'm going with this.

A person said there is thoughts that 12900 years ago, comets hit the Earth, resulting in "the flood", (yes, the Noah flood) and that there is a serious discussion going about it being a real possibility.

Anyone here on SGL ever heard anything on this train of thought. 

Sorry, but the time line they're talking makes me think this is what we call hog wash!

[Alien 13]

It will hit either the Earth or the Moon but the results will be similar..

Alan

[Knighty2112]

There is postulation that a comet hit the north American ice cap during the last ice age which did result supposedly in a catastrophic flood. The scablands in north america are supposed to bear witness to part of this flood. Not sure if it was supposed to cause world wide flooding,  but certainly pretty bad in north America according to some geologists, but the idea resisted by others. Sounded reasonably plausable to me, but then i ain’t no expert!  

Edited September 17, 2019 by Knighty2112

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

I find whenever reading explanations for Old Testament events, or newspaper headlines suggesting we're about to be scorched by a comet or asteroid, a hat fashioned from baco foil and cellotape provides ample protection.

Edited September 17, 2019 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[Ruud]

I remember reading that the Moon has shielded the Earth from many an impact.  Can this be true?  I'd think that the Earth, being much bigger than the Moon, would shield the Moon much more effectively than the Moon could ever shield the Earth.

Anyway, if c/2019 q4 ends up hitting one of the two, I would prefer it'd hit the Moon rather than the Earth. I'm not too worried though.

Many cultures have recorded floods, in different locations and at different times, but I've not heard of any evidence for a flood destroying most of humanity, like the floods you find in the epic of Atrahasis, the epic of Gilgamesh or the story of Noah. Great stories though.

[upahill]

Im of the belief that Earth has had planet wide flooding plenty of times, just fairly sure we were not around at the time to witness it.

The impact craters on the moon are pretty good indicators of the job its been doing. Perhaps we reciprocate equally but less noticeably due to many burning up in atmosphere.

 

[maw lod qan]

My thinking is that the time mentioned, 12900 years, does not leave much time for any geological work to cover up the evidence of such major impacts for that kind of water to be brought to Earth.

They are finding new hidden large craters now, but not just 12900 years old. 

Then there's the question, what happened to the water that "flooded" everything. Take a big sponge to soak it up.

I do believe that right now, all the water that is on the Earth, is still here. Only reduced by the water we carried into space.

Not even thinking along the theological line, because that starts too many arguments, I see this almost following with the Earth is flat idea.

[Stub Mandrel]

There have been plenty of catastrophic floods as the result of the collapse of glacier dams impounding huge lakes within human pre-history and other causes.  More than enough to explain flood legends across many cultures though probably not the same flood.

[Ruud]

This is an intriguing idea:

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sea_deluge_hypothesis

[Paul M]

The early Earth was arid and had no liquid water. It's my understanding that all the water here on Earth was deposited by comet impacts! Perhaps the first complex organic compounds arrive with them too. Not only did those comets water Earth, likely they seeded it also.

Can't say I've heard of any specifically timed comet impacts and never heard of such an event being the root of the Biblical Flood tale. The Tunguska Event, over a century ago has been attributed by some theorists to a comet impact due to the lack of a crater. Only speculation though.

The Moon has acted as a bit of a sweeping brush. Deflecting some otherwise Earthbound objects gravitationally or by just getting in the way! 

[Star101]

To put some kind of perspective on the size of space...

Voyager 1 left Earth in 1977. By 2017 it managed to get 140AU away. (AU is the distance between Earth and Sun ) Over 13 Billion miles away. Travelling at 10 miles per second..It's only just left the Solar System. There is not much between our Solar System and the nearest star...4 light years away. It will take 1000's of years before Voyager gets even close to another star. That's how vast space is and how small in comparison Earth is. 

If there were lots of stuff floating around in space....We would not see stars due to the stuff floating around. Therefore, Its because there is so little out there that we can see such distant objects.

If you are really interested...Take a look at this

[Mr Spock]

North America. The Missoula lake flood had nothing to do with an impact. There were multiple events from this and Lake Columbia throughout the ice age.

Similarly, the 'Noah' flood was the breech of the Bosphorus which raised the level of the Black sea by as much as 120m around 7900 years ago. All supported by archaeological evidence. You can see shore lines and villages under water. The inundation may have been gradual, though it would seem like a disaster to the people who lived there.

As for other more fanciful theories, I prefer to listen to well documented and peer reviewed science than what someone on the internet said 

[MilwaukeeLion]

Think it was just last week supporting evidence of multiple mass extinction events due to meteors was released.  Asteroids are slower, warmer, friendlier imo.

[Carbon Brush]

I think for anyone thinking about meteor or comet impacts, this report about the Tunguska event is interesting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event

Long distance 'instant' communication by telegraph was established - in a few places.
Individual institutions and researchers in Europe and further afield noted changes to the sky, etc. But presumably did not receive reports from those local to the event.
Those 'local' to the event. By that I mean Russian scientists, who did not investigate for years. OK they may have been sidetracked by WW1 and a revolution.

Had the impact been over somewhere densely populated, like Europe, the casualty count would have been huge.
Had this been over open water, there would have been extensive coastal flooding - and casualties.

I'm sure the earth has suffered impacts that nowadays would flatten a city, or small country, many times in human history. But it is only recently, and some parts of the world that they are documented.

In my lifetime, comets have been binocular or telescope objects. There have been daylight visible comets in the past few hundred years.
So just because I have seen nothing more than dim fuzzy blobs, or the odd metoer streak, it does not mean there is nothing bigger out there.
Am I right in thinking Barringer crater is only about 50K years old? An instant in evolutionary timescales.

Now here is the really worrying part.
What if Tunguska had happened at the height of the cold war? 1950s or 60s.
Would this have triggered a man made mass extinction from those with fingers on the missile buttons?