| Submit your comments on this article |
| Science & Technology |
| Hang on to your pants--Asteroid to zoom very close past Earth next Friday |
| 2013-02-10 |
| Please no mass suicides as occurred with the Hale-Bopp Comet and Heaven's Gate cult! For any that are susceptible tin-foil hats, put away the long knives. Comet Hale-Bopp. Hold on to your hats: An asteroid is to zoom within spitting distance of Earth next week, in what NASA said on Thursday is the closest flyby ever predicted for an object this large. The 2012 DA 14, discovered by chance by astronomers after passing nearby in February last year, will be just about 27,700km above Earth's surface when it speeds by, the US space agency said. That is outside the Earth's atmosphere, but closer than the orbit of most weather and communications satellites. However, despite the close shave, NASA said there was nothing to fear. "This asteroid's orbit is so well known that we can say with confidence that even considering it's orbital uncertainties, it can pass no closer than 17,100 miles [27,700km] from the Earth's surface. So no Earth impact is possible," Donald Yeomans of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said. "At the same time, it will pass 5,000 miles [8,000km] inside the ring" of satellites, Yeomans said, adding that the asteroid's path puts it right in the "sweet spot" to avoid having any damaging impact. The asteroid is predicted to come closest to Earth on Friday next week, at about 7:24pm GMT, and will pass over the Indian Ocean off Sumatra. It will be visible with a little help from a telescope in eastern Europe, Australia and Asia, astronomers said. The asteroid measures about 45m in diameter. That makes it relatively small by celestial standards. "The object that ... took out the dinosaurs was about 10km," Yeomans said. If it were to hit the Earth, the impact would be roughly equivalent to a 2.4 megaton bomb -- enough to flatten a large area, but not globally catastrophic, he said. NASA estimates that a smallish asteroid like 2012 DA 14 flies close to the Earth every 40 years, on average, but only hits the Earth once every 1,200 years. Statistically speaking, that means we are probably safe for quite a while, since a similar asteroid hit just more than 100 years ago. "With an estimated size of the order of 50m, [2012 DA 14] is comparable in dimensions to the object that destroyed over 2,000 square kilometers of forest in Tunguska, Siberia, on 30th June 1908," said Mark Bailey, director of the Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland. More information. |
| Posted by:JohnQC |
| #19 Years ago there was a game where a little triangle in the middle of the screen would shot astroids. NASA needs to dust that off and get it working quick. If the asteroid hits Washington DC then it will prove the existence of a just God. |
| Posted by: airandee 2013-02-10 21:20 |
| #18 Hey NASA ... THAT'S not an asteriod. That's the Predator. Better cancel that trip to the Central American rainforest. Hahahaha! |
| Posted by: Raider 2013-02-10 21:05 |
| #17 Have no fear, AlBore will save us through his superpower of flatulence. When he lights his fart on fire, the world moves in it's orbit. Or was that his burp? Who knows, it comes out every orifice with him. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division 2013-02-10 20:48 |
| #16 Allan is Insha. KE = 1/2 em vee squared, bitches! |
| Posted by: SteveS 2013-02-10 18:03 |
| #15 "What if it joins its sibling in Mecca?" Make it so, Mr. Data. Allan is Insha. |
| Posted by: Barbara 2013-02-10 17:48 |
| #14 What if it joins its sibling in Mecca? Posted by tipper The Kaaba will be rescued and whisked back into orbit by the asteroid. Many will perish. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-02-10 16:53 |
| #13 NASA estimates that a smallish asteroid like 2012 DA 14 flies close to the Earth every 40 years, on average, but only hits the Earth once every 1,200 years. Statistically speaking, that means we are probably safe for quite a while, since a similar asteroid hit just more than 100 years ago. That's known as the Gambler's Fallacy. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2013-02-10 16:50 |
| #12 What if it joins its sibling in Mecca? |
| Posted by: tipper 2013-02-10 15:47 |
| #11 Average White Guy |
| Posted by: Frank G 2013-02-10 15:01 |
| #10 AWG As it can't be All Girls Weekend, it could be Anti-Global Warming Anthropogenic Global Warming Autonomous Guided Weapon Acronyms aren't my friends |
| Posted by: Willy 2013-02-10 14:49 |
| #9 "CNN anchor speculates it's caused by global warming" Dear God... is there ANY limit to liberal ignorance and stupidity???? Sorry. Dumb question... |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2013-02-10 14:18 |
| #8 Bring It! |
| Posted by: Shipman 2013-02-10 13:34 |
| #7 CNN anchor speculates it's caused by global warming I considered a comment along the lines of "MSM says it's caused by AGW". Decided not---too crude. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-02-10 13:08 |
| #6 Needs to be properly aimed.... say to rawalpindi. Rawalpindi, Karachi, Quetta, Islamabad, Mecca, Damascus, Cairo, Qom...so many possibilities, all of them good. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-02-10 13:01 |
| #5 Needs to be properly aimed.... say to rawalpindi. |
| Posted by: Water Modem 2013-02-10 12:36 |
| #4 CNN anchor speculates it's caused by global warming Mammas don't let your babies grow up to be journalists. Better to drown them in the tub than suffer the humiliation later. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2013-02-10 12:29 |
| #3 ...well, related but not in the manner she'd grasp. Given that most global warming is a result of the sun (place the earth a couple million miles further out or in on the average and see the result)and that the sun exerts the major gravitational pull to establish the orbit of these asteroids, there is a similar causative factor. We're, sort of like, just along for the ride. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2013-02-10 11:46 |
| #2 CNN anchor speculates it's caused by global warming |
| Posted by: Frank G 2013-02-10 10:55 |
| #1 The sky is not falling. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2013-02-10 10:48 |