1y ago

Giant asteroid the size of 1,000 capybaras to pass Earth Tuesday - NASA

www.jpost.com Giant asteroid the size of 1,000 capybaras to pass Earth Tuesday - NASA

Asteroid 349507 (2008 QY) is around 1.2 kilometers in diameter, or around 1,000 capybaras – large enough that an impact event (which won't happen now) could be a worldwide catastrophe.

While the asteroid is traveling too far to pose any risk to the Earth, a possible impact event with it could become a worldwide catastrophe.

101 comments

American really will use any measurement except metric
- If you regularly use metric in the US, you're either an aerospace engineer or a drug dealer. lol
  Edit: Thank you everyone who ackshually'd my obvious joke. I'm aware metric is more widely used that that.
  
  Or the military, they use it a ton
  
  The fastest way to find out is to ask how many grams are in an ounce.
  28.8? Engineer
  28? Dealer
  
  TIL only aerospace engineers and drug dealers buy soda at the grocery store.
- I'd switch, but I've been on the Capy system my whole life, and it's just much more intuitive for me. Everyone knows how long a Capybara is. How fucking long a meter is? Beats the fuck out of me, maybe a half cap?
- It really was a disservice to my generation and after (late 30s) that they gave up on it.
- And we'll misapply it as well. The asteroid isn't the size of 1000 capybaras, it's as wide as 1000 capybaras lined up. Assuming it's roughly spherical, it's actually closer to the size of 524,000,000 capybaras.
  
  Asteroids can be wildly non-spherical though, in shapes way different than capybara non-sphericalities, so it's not only misapplied but likely also nonsensical... unless, it's a giant capybara shaped asteroid.
  
  We talking length or width?
- Is 1,000 capybaras equal to 10,000 guinea pigs or is it 99,729.372456 guinea pigs? I'm bad at conversions.
  
  It depends on your motivation to pack them in the allotted space.
- If it were an American measurement it would be made in Hamberders
- You may deny it, but capybara measurement is peak measurement.
- The Jerusalem Post
  Look I think the joke is as funny as anyone else but the "unit" is an animal most of the Americans its meant to lampoon most likely wouldn't have even heard of.
  
  We’ve all seen the memes, thank you very much.

A kilocapybara
- Real science
- It's only missing 24 to make it one Kibibara.

Use measurement units damnit
- This is a measurement unit. A bit unconventional, but it's not any worse than using three grains of barley, dry and round, placed end to end lengthwise, or the length of King Henry I's foot.
  
  not any worse
  I know this is america but could we maybe, just this once, try to measure things better?
- This one actually gave me a nice laugh. They are clearly taking a piss at unconventional units of measurement.
- My friends and I use golden retrievers as a unit of measurement, would that have been better?
- Here's a better article.
  The first asteroid, named 349507 (2008 QY), is a colossal mass that is equivalent in size to a bridge.
  
  1 bridge = 1000 capybaras, you heard it here first
- This might help:
  https://www.theregister.com/Design/page/reg-standards-converter.html
- I just had a huge breakfast. Easily one third of a capybara

Yup. first time I have seen capybaras used as a unit of measurement.
- My ex had titties the size of capybaras but it was mostly because she had the physique of a manatee.
  
  she was truly the sea cow of the land

Me, a normal human being: ah yes, one thousand capybaras large, I know exactly its size now.
Y’all are weird not knowing this measurement system. Makes as much sense as miles and inches.
- That's almost 3 football fields!

Anyone downvoting this is boring and doesn’t understand the fun of capybara math 🤣
- ‘Americans will literally use any other form of measurement other than metric’

Remember to get out and vote!
- he has my vote

1.2 km long, for anyone wondering.
- Which is why it’s silly to represent the size of the asteroid in capybara lengths. We should be representing it in capybara volumes or masses. Probably be something more like 1 billion capybaras.
  
  Volume is the worst reported measure, it's only Olympic swimming pools. I want to know acre feet.
- That's a planet killer.

Would you rather see 1 astroid size capybara or 1000 capybara sized astroids?
- That's easy, the capybara sized asteroids. The only ones who have to care are in space.

I don't think they know how volume calculations work. When I read 1000 Capybaras, I though "huh, that's not actually that big", until they say it's actually the diameter or that much capybaras.
EDIT: I did some pocket calculations and it seems like 1000 capybaras can fit into an around 13 capybara diameter sphere.
- Right? There's no way 1000 capybaras can fill it if they're just reaching across the middle.

I only accept measurements in washing machines and football fields.
- No London buses?
  
  That sounds like some Metric bullshit.
- How many large McDonald's sodas is it? As an American, I don't understand any other measurement.
- I like to measure in statue of liberties if it going to be really big.

How big is it in beans pray tell
- Would that be Heinz finest, and are we including the juice?
  
  Just the beans

One capybara weighs on average 108lbs or about 16.5 AR-15s fully loaded.
So the asteroid weighs roughly as much as 422,559 AR-15s with a loaded 20 rd magazine. (Warning my math is bad as I'm American.)
- It looks like they are using the length of a capybara, which is just over a meter not the weight. So it's 1,446 ar15s in diameter.
  
  But how many Olympic swimming pools is that? Or is that a unit of volume... sorry, I think I'm looking for the number of football fields, yes how many of those is it in diameter?

Wake up, new type of measurement system just dropped. Will America finally replace imperial?
- Once again, the US is behind the times. The UK switched to Lobsters recently... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NJloYFS4pY

But how many bananas is that?
- Using an average capybara measurement of 4 feet in length, that would be 6.8 bananas, so 1000 capybaras would be roughly 6800 bananas.
  Assuming a banana of an average length of 7 inches.

The Jerusalem Post keeps posting articles comparing asteroids to random things and I love it.
- “2.3 times the size of a dinosaur“
  I assume they mean the hummingbird subtype
- "massive asteroid the size of a small island"
  Okay. That literally told me nothing about the size of the asteroid, but that's pretty funny and I bet it gets people to click the link.
  I also like how OP's article also appears to take a dig at fear mongering around asteroids by talking about how the asteroid isn't coming near earth, it really isn't a problem, if it hit earth it'd cause untold devastation but you really dont need to be afraid because it's not gonna hit us ever.

We really need a bot to translate these oddball units of mass into Volkswagen Beetles like the good Lord intended. Embrace standards, ffs.

How many bananas or Toyota Corollas is that?
- 12 corollas
  15 billion bananas
  Source: im a math doctor
  
  Thank you for your service, doctor

The capybara puns in this news article are terrible. This article was not worth the read, but since Soo many people in here are complaining about the capybara measurement I shall give you the exact measurement which is 1.2 kilometers wide

i love this measurement. it belies the articles importance

reminds me of an article where the area of a solar array was measured in units of Olympic swimming pools....
just why?
- Because humans are notorious for not being able to estimate area and volume. Pretty much anything but length. People can visualize an Olympic swimming pool. They cannot visualize an acre or hectare.
  But mostly, it's because units are about communicating. They need to provide understanding to the user. That's why feet and inches are so useful as units. They're real to everyone.
  Let me give you an example.
  DC fast chargers operate at 250 kW. I can do all kinds of physics with that number. How long it would take to boil a cubic meter of water. How fast can that accelerate a rock. All the things.
  That's not very helpful though. It doesn't tell me anything real in my life.
  Now, I'll tell you that that number will trip the main breaker of 5 typical houses. That's better, but I don't really know how much a house is.
  What I do know is how hot an oven is when running on full blast.
  250 kW is more than 80 ovens running on full blast.
  That's about as good an intuitive understanding of that number as I can get.
  
  idk, maybe use units of famous mountains for asteroids instead of rodents? an asteroid a quarter the size of mt everest, for example.
  yeah, people may not like SI units as much as i do but that doesn't mean whatever you pick is an improvement.

How many Smoots is that?

Terrible unit of measurement. I need to know how many bananas.

So there's a comet. Big deal. It'll burn up in our atmosphere and whatever's left will be no bigger than a chihuahua's head.

ITT: People with no sense of humor

wtf are capithigny ? Don't bother I don't care.
- You'd care if you knew how adorable they are.
- For this, you receive the Capybara of Disapproval.
- Its a giant guinea pig

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