Asteroid 2012 TC4 Could Come As Close As 2000 Miles From The Surface Of The Earth

On October 12th asteroid 2012 TC4 is slated tp pass the earth with the minimum approach distance being .03 lunar distances. Now just to clarify...a lunar distance is the distance from the CENTER of the earth to the.center of the moon. So lets do the math. .03ld equals 7158 miles...but we have to subtract the radius of the earth as well as the radius of the moon...earth's radius 3959 miles...moon's radius 1079 miles...which gives us a minimum miss distance of 2120 miles. Maybe. The asteroid is listed at a condition code 5 with the condition code indicating just how certain they are of its path...condition code 0 meaning "very certain" and condition code 9 meaning "not certain at all". So with 2012 tc4 being listed at condition code 5 it could possibly come even closer.

a reply to: MissSmartypants

How big is this puppy ?

If it was going to hit us they wouldn't tell us to avoid panic so all eyes to the sky on October 12th , best get some supplies in just in case.

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: MissSmartypants

How big is this puppy ?

If it was going to hit us they wouldn't tell us to avoid panic so all eyes to the sky on October 12th , best get some supplies in just in case.

10-30 meters. Not a world ender.

a reply to: MissSmartypants

And just to give some perspective, the weather satelites orbit the earth at around 22,000 miles from the surface.

a reply to: gortex

It's pretty small actually, at 10-31 meters (according to Wiki anyway) en.wikipedia.org...

Very interesting indeed. Russia's asteroid that caused a lot of damage in 2013 was only 20 meters wide. 2012 TC4 is estimated to be at its largest 40 meters wide. Let the roulette wheel spin.

originally posted by: crazyewok

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: MissSmartypants

How big is this puppy ?

If it was going to hit us they wouldn't tell us to avoid panic so all eyes to the sky on October 12th , best get some supplies in just in case.

10-30 meters. Not a world ender.

If it explodes in the atmosphere above you it could very well end your world.

originally posted by: FamCore
a reply to: gortex

It's pretty small actually, at 10-31 meters (according to Wiki anyway) en.wikipedia.org...

Well it certainly isn't "wipe out the dinosaurs" big...but if you or one of your loved ones are injured by it...its impact will have been huge for you.

originally posted by: FamCore
a reply to: gortex

It's pretty small actually, at 10-31 meters (according to Wiki anyway) en.wikipedia.org...

Relatively speaking, small.

If it hits my house..... It's YUUUGE!

The Tunguska asteroid has been estimated to have been as small as 60 meters.

2000 miles?

if it was that close... wouldnt it be close enough for earths gravity to pull in it and than hit?

a reply to: MissSmartypants

Since this asteroid's closest approach is 2000 miles from earth's surface; besides a chance of a direct earth impact there is also a very high probability of 2012 TC4 colliding with orbital satellites possibly disrupting telecommunications thus creating more space junk that could cause more telecommunication disruptions in a domino effect. and possibly fast orbital decay of said space junk.

a reply to: crazyewok

10-30 meters. Not a world ender

Maybe not a ender but it sure would mess up your neighborhood. Someone needs to get Bruce and Aflac on the phone ASAP😀

a reply to: Jiggly

Depends on a few factors. Mainly approach angle.

I'm putting money on going about it's business & not being a problem. It's not like it's an Earth Grazer (of which we get about one a year at a much closer distance) *Edit: I may be thinking of bolides in general here, though. Been a while since I looked this one up.

Consider it a regularly scheduled Who's Boss reminder from nature.

I imagine it would most likely skip off the atmosphere (wrong phrase I think) at worst... barring something re-directing it of course into a more direct path.

here is to hoping.. hey at least we saw this one before it went boom.

They consider no chance of an Earth impact before Oct, 2020, so I guess Donald will still be around until then!

a reply to: crazyewok

Neither was Tunguska. but it was one hell of a devastator. Flattening out more than 2,000 square miles of forest.

science.nasa.gov...

originally posted by: smurfy
They consider no chance of an Earth impact before Oct, 2020, so I guess Donald will still be around until then!

Who are "they"? If "they" are the elitist controlled NASA then I wouldn't put too much stock in what "they" say.

originally posted by: MissSmartypants

originally posted by: crazyewok

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: MissSmartypants

How big is this puppy ?

If it was going to hit us they wouldn't tell us to avoid panic so all eyes to the sky on October 12th , best get some supplies in just in case.

10-30 meters. Not a world ender.

If it explodes in the atmosphere above you it could very well end your world.

If its powerful enough to wipe out life on earth just from exploding in the atmosphere it would definitely be more destructive hitting the earth. A lot of it would burn up in the atmosphere anyway.

originally posted by: Irishhaf
I imagine it would most likely skip off the atmosphere (wrong phrase I think) at worst... barring something re-directing it of course into a more direct path.

here is to hoping.. hey at least we saw this one before it went boom.

At 2,000 miles? Wouldn't touch it by even the halfway point unless you include the Exosphere. The Karman Line is 68 miles up (de facto line of where the atmosphere starts to meet space)
If you want to get technical, the outermost layer, being the Exosphere (where stuff escapes into space with ease) starts at 600 miles and goes up to 6,000+ miles. You could technically say the asteroid's dipping it toes in the Exosphere.

Most folks ignore it & think of the Ionosphere as the last layer (which overlaps both the Mesosphere at 50-ish miles & Thermosphere at 370-ish miles) The Ionosphere's a pretty thick layer, though it does shrink & grow based on "solar weather" (to put it in simple terms) The top reaches of the Ionosphere are around 600 miles. So yeah, the asteroid's not playing in the Ionosphere, it'd be traipsing through the Exosphere.