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-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Asteroid passes inside moon's orbit, buzzes Earth
2012-12-13
[CBS News] A newfound asteroid gave Earth a close shave early today, zipping between our planet and the moon just two days after astronomers first spotted it.

The near-Earth asteroid 2012 XE54, which was discovered Sunday (Dec. 9), came within 140,000 miles of our planet at about 5 a.m. EST Tuesday (Dec. 11), researchers said. For comparison, the moon orbits Earth at an average distance of 240,000 miles or so.

Astronomers estimate that 2012 XE54 is about 120 feet wide -- big enough to cause substantial damage if it slams into Earth someday. An object of similar size flattened 800 square miles of forest when it went kaboom! above Siberia's Podkamennaya Tunguska River in 1908.

Asteroid 2012 XE54 also passed through Earth's shadow a few hours before its closest approach, generating an eclipse on the space rock's surface, researchers said.
Posted by:Fred

#11  Asteroid... well its better than branes in the multiverse impacting ours.
Posted by: Water Modem   2012-12-13 20:44  

#10  Not big enough to fulfill the Mayan calendar prophecy of 12/21/12. These prophecies are worth about a dime a few dozen.
Posted by: JohnQC   2012-12-13 18:05  

#9  Bobby you left out DC.
Posted by: AlanC   2012-12-13 15:37  

#8  Not dangerous, TF9823? What about Mrs. Hodge's hip? She could hardly walk after being wacked by one!

By the way - nice compilation of craters!
Posted by: Bobby   2012-12-13 15:26  

#7  Wow nice collection TF. The big one stony or metallic?
Posted by: Shipman   2012-12-13 14:50  

#6  i looked into this stuff in detail a few years back. it's not possible for astronomers to see these "small" chunks of rock until they are a few days out (from collision with the Earth). nobody's really looking for them. NASA mostly checks the big asteroids that could annihilate the planet - they don't worry about the ankle biters. a chunk of rock the size of a football field could take out any major city on the planet. but right now we're really pretty blind - they either hit or they don't. move on folks ... nuthin' to see here.
Posted by: Raider   2012-12-13 14:03  

#5  North America has thirteen big impact craters. So does Africa. South America has two, but a lot of South America has not been adequately surveyed. Europe has four big impact craters. Asia has five but again, a large area has not been adequately explored and the Tunguska strike was catastrophic and spectacular but it was not a metallic or stone meteor but largely an Ice meteor with no Crater effect after the event, to speak of.
Sweden has a crater nine km across. Finland has one 23 km across. Russia has one 14 miles across, near the arctic circle.
Arizona has that teeny one which is only a mile across. canada has multiple impacts. One is 28 km across and another is 100 km. wide.

The one off Yucatan was 170 km across and may have led to the extinction of a great deal of Earth life forms. There are Iridium traces from that one.The only others in South America are only 12 km across & Its in the Amazon. Most of AfricaÂ’s impacts were relatively small, a mile wide or so, except for one which was about 14 Km wide. Saudi has a cluster out in the middle of sand hell but they are negligible.

Tajikstan has one 45 km across. Australia has one 90 km across and another 24 km across the rest are small. India has a couple of small ones less than a mile across.
The spread across time is vast. Most are long before the human species.Germany has a relic crater which is very old about 300 Km across.

And only God knows how many fell in the Ocean over 500 million years. We get hit all the time if you consider Time, itself, as a very long measure. I own three meteors and a collection of Tektites. The biggest I have is about a foot across, the rest you can hold your hand. Those happen every day. Its not dangerous, just a curiosity. You just pay attention to your driving and settle your bills on time.
Posted by: Threater Flusoper9823   2012-12-13 08:40  

#4  Detroit? Who would notice the difference?
Posted by: European Conservative   2012-12-13 08:35  

#3  Don't get me excited, EC, it's too early in the morning! Whaddabout Detroit? Mecca? Qom? So many target, so few asteroids!
Posted by: Bobby   2012-12-13 05:50  

#2  Actually if that asteroid had exploded above New York in Tunguska fashion, NYC would be history.
Posted by: European Conservative   2012-12-13 02:40  

#1  ...just two days after astronomers first spotted it.
I'm thinking somebody is hitting the eggnog early.
Posted by: Skidmark   2012-12-13 00:29  

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