National Geographic: Asteroids Deadly Impact DVD 1997 Region 1 US Import NTSC: Amazon.co.uk: Carolyn Shoemaker, Eugene Shoemaker, Eitan Weinreich: DVD

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5.0 out of 5 stars "the deadliest hazard we face", 22 Jun 2005

By	Alejandra Vernon "artist & illustrator" (Long Beach, California) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Those who like to keep their eyes on the sky will appreciate this documentary, which follows geologist Eugene Shoemaker, who as the chief lunar scientist for NASA, trained the astronauts before the moon landings at the nearly mile-wide Meteor Crater near Flagstaff, Arizona.
With his wife Carolyn, and collaborator David Levy, Shoemaker discovered Shoemaker-Levy 9, in March of 1993, the meteor that impacted with Jupiter in July of '94, and was so well recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Shoemaker likens meteors to "space bullets", and gives us with his riffle, a miniature version of what happens upon impact.
Shoemaker has discovered hundreds of meteors and comets, and "helped transform the map of the sky", and also has an immensely likable personality, making this film enjoyable as well as educational.

Also interviewed are David Morrison of NASA, who claims "if it happened to the dinosaurs it can happen to us", and astronaut/geologist Dr. Jack Schmitt.
There's a scene where Eugene and Carolyn visit the Ries Basin in Germany, where the town of Nordlinger is built within a crater, and marvel at the "large geologic sample", St. George's Cathedral, built with local stone that includes melted glass, the result of meteoric impact.
Other craters described are in Tunguska, Siberia, where in 1908 the trees were flattened for miles, and the Chicxulub crater within the peninsula of Yucatan, which occurred 65 million years ago, and coincides with the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Another reason to enjoy this documentary is its narration, by composer, actor and guitarist extraordinaire Robbie Robertson, whose mellow, beautiful voice is music to my ears.
Very well written and directed by Eitan Weinreich, with a good score by Mark Adler, the total running time is 60 minutes.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very convincing documentary that mankind must do something to prevent another deadly celestial object impact on Earth, 14 Oct 2008

By	Rasih Bensan (Istanbul, Turkey) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This National Geographic documentary DVD leaves no doubt that the risk of an armageddon type meteorite, comet or asteroid impact occurring on Earth any time is no joke. The DVD very clearly and in a curiosity raising way explores the issues summarized below. I recommend it to everybody interested not only in Astronomy but also in the preservation of living species on our fragile planet.

Pioneers of research in this topic, and presenters in this DVD are geologists and astronomers Eugene Shoemaker and his wife Carolyn whose claims that the Earth is in such danger were doubted by many scientists until the spectacular multiple impact on Jupiter in 1992 of the comet Shoemaker Levy 9. The many craters seen on the moon and on Earth are not volcano craters but craters of impact. In 1908 such an impact ( some say an explosion in Earth's atmosphere, not an impact ) devastated the forests in Siberia. And 65 million years ago a much bigger impact in Central America wiped out many living species on Earth including the dinosaurs. If it can happen on the moon and on Jupiter and because it happened on Earth in the past, it can happen again on Earth.

Astronomers have so far discovered 10 % of asteroids that every now and then cross the Earth's orbit and risk impacting it. But there is still a 90 % of asteroids crossing the Earth's orbit not discovered so far. They pose a much greater potential threat. Because when they are on a collision trajectory with Earth, if they haven't been already discovered, all mankind can do is to watch the impact and be wiped out. The DVD also explains what can be done to pevent these collisions. One of the projects developed is to nuke them out of their trajectories by the explosion of nuclear missiles launched from Earth. Of course this is possible only when the collision is evident long before it occurs. If it is a last minute surprise nothing can be done.The research by astronomers goes on to discover the remaining 90 % of threatening asteroids. Hopefully when we discover them we will be able to have a much wider umbrella of protection.

All these sounded like science fiction until the Shomaker comet impacted Jupiter in 1992. This impact was the first such impact on a celestial object observed by man. So there is no more the question of if the Earth is in danger of impact or not. The question since then is when ? It is no longer science fiction but science fact. And mankind better be quick in developing various plans to prevent these impacts. This DVD mentions only the nuclear missile blowing the asteroid away from a collision course. But there are other projects conceptualized that are mentioned in other DVDs about astronomy. One such concept is landing several unmanned spacecraft on the asteroid and igniting rockets to push the asteroid away instead of an explosion.

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National Geographic: Asteroids Deadly Impact [DVD] [1997] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

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