Space rock gives Earth a close shave

Space rock gives Earth a close shave

uk.news.yahoo.com

An asteroid of a similar size to a rock that exploded above Siberia in 1908 with the force of a thousand atomic bombs whizzed close past Earth on Monday, astronomers said on Tuesday.

The gap was just 72,000 kilometers (44,750 miles), or a fifth of the distance between Earth and the Moon and only twice the height of satellites in geosynchronous orbit, the website space.com said.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I heard something yesterday during a phone call, but I thought they were trying to pull my leg, they seem to be getting closer.

Also there was a thread about two weeks ago showing supposed Asteroids heading this way, does anyone think they are related in any way, I'm sure these things travel in small groups, especially if they are from a collision with another, does anyone have a general idea which direction this has come from?

It's weird because lots of people on here and in real life, said they felt a little awkward yesterday morning, said like they had forgotten something, or someone needed to tell them something, I didnt give it much thought, hindsight huh?

Two months ago we would have picked this up 10 mins after it was first spotted, three days warning, and not a word anywhere, that I can find anyhow.

Thanks for looking.

uk.news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)


Found another link, both stories are a little different slightly, but thats to be expected with story inflation

Link

[edit on 3/3/2009 by azzllin]

Originally posted by azzllin


Two months ago we would have picked this up 10 mins after it was first spotted, three days warning, and not a word anywhere, that I can find anyhow.

I have to disagree with this. We spend so little on asteroid spotting that I can't tell you how many times we have only spotted a Near Earth Object AFTER it had gone by Earth.

This is nothing new.

I would not be at all surprised if Earth was hit by an asteroid under a mile long and we didn't know about it until it happened.

One would think with all these near misses and whatnot that the government would be willing to spend more for our protection. Unless we find these objects 6 months or more BEFORE they hit us we won't be able to do much to stop them.

At one time we were spending only one million dollars a year on asteroid spotting. I'm not sure what it is now, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is under 5 million... which imo is insane.

Alienmojo is 100% correct

I worked out a little while back, that if earth was the size of a pin head, then the moon would be about 1 city block (something like 250m if I recall) away at the same scale.

This rock was 1/5 the distance to the moon away from us. That's still a lot of empty space between us and it.

Does that help put things into perspective?

agreed thats why we need to quit worrying so much on why we didnt see it coming and be glad we dodged another space bullet! nothing like missing a potential cataclysim to make you appreciate life. i just dont understand why people aren't out partying and livin it up alittle

i mean if you really need an excuse yer not going to do much better then a damn asteroid now are you.

That was a close one. I know we get a lot of close approaches, but they are usually over a LD or Lunar Distance. When they get inside the orbit of the Moon, things get interesting. This asteroid 2009 DD45 was 0.2LD.

As far as watching for NEO's or Near Earth Objects, that is NASA JPL's job and you can see the NEO's they are tracking on this website.

NASA JPL NEO

Click on the object in the left column and you will open the interactive orbital diagram (need Java).

2009 DD45 Orbital Diagram

It is pretty cool to zoom in and advance the time to see how close it got.

Recently it was discovered that there are many objects around us that we don’t know of because we can see them. There are huge asteroid and comet that don’t reflect any light which mean we can’t see them and they may well hit us.

Humans are reactive creatures by nature. That's why that stop sign isn't installed until some politician's kid looses their life at the intersection.

Perhaps it's going to take the impact of a NEO before anything is done about it (beyond the token-esque). Until then, I expect more of the same. Scientists and Astronomers spurting percentages and statistics that give the average Joe comfort - but are ultimately useless when dealing with a percentage of objects that we can't see, let alone factor into any equation.

IRM

reply to post by Alienmojo

I have to disagree with this. We spend so little on asteroid spotting that I can't tell you how many times we have only spotted a Near Earth Object AFTER it had gone by Earth.

But why waste more money man?
Even if they did find a earth killer....Are you sure the world our yourself could handle the truth in all honesty..i would rather not no at all.

I don't want to die worrying myself to death till it hits us.
Either way we are dead i know....
But why Would we want to see it before hand..

reply to post by TheAmused


I agree that i would prefer not worrying for a few days knowing an asteroid is on the course to earth. And in fact we all do this everyday by waking up, we ignore anything bad and make plans for later that night, this is life. Then it would save millions of people, those who have their bunker get away plan not sponsored by governments. But everyday we wake up and take life as it comes not knowing if we will be home safe later.

Sad thing is, well what i know & even though i do not trust the ANY of the world's astro/space agencies is that they only realize a near miss after it had passed.

In the end a big object that could destroy life as we know it has one outcome, we are sitting ducks. Everyday means the end of life of someone by anything natural & unnatural.

maybe a dumb question, but in the article it mentioned "exploded above Siberia in 1908 with the force of a thousand atomic bombs "

does it means the Earth can withstand the explosions of thousands of Atomic bombs? hmmmmmmm

[edit on 4/3/09 by IchiNiSan]

Originally posted by IchiNiSan
maybe a dumb question, but in the article it mentioned "exploded above Siberia in 1908 with the force of a thousand atomic bombs "

does it means the Earth can withstand the explosions of thousands of Atomic bombs? hmmmmmmm

[edit on 4/3/09 by IchiNiSan]

The Tunguska event did cause a heck of a lot of damage if you look at the pics, but I think it's probably exaggerated that it was the force of a thousand atomic bombs! However i'm open to correction, as always

reply to post by IchiNiSan


Yes, effectively it does. Atomic bombs are not all the same size.

The amount of energy released by fission bombs can range between the equivalent of less than a ton of TNT upwards to around 500,000 tons (500 kilotons) of TNT.[2]

By chaining together numerous stages with increasing amounts of fusion fuel, thermonuclear weapons can be made to an almost arbitrary yield; the largest ever detonated (the Tsar Bomba of the USSR) released an energy equivalent to over 50 million tons (50 megatons) of TNT. Most thermonuclear weapons are considerably smaller than this, due for instance to practical constraints in fitting them into the space and weight requirements of missile warheads.

Source: wikipedia

Earth has been hit by objects that would have dwarfed the 'Tsar Bomba' before, and it's still here.

According to this article it was just twice the distance of some telecommunications satellites away.

With all these Near misses happening on a regular basis, eventually there has to be a decent size one that is going to hit - it's just a matter of when - not if.

reply to post by verylowfrequency


If that's a near miss, then by the same token, one of those RPG's fired at the Sri Lankan cricket squad the other day almost hit me (I live in Europe by the way).

I reckon if I stood at the top of the empire state building, and dropped a dart, I'd have more chance of hitting an ant "right between the eyes" than this rock had of hitting earth.

It's always been this way (if not worse) and it always will be (at least for the foreseeable future).

If it was not this way, we would probably not be here now




[edit on 4-3-2009 by C.H.U.D.]

If you've ever read "Rendezvous with Rama" then you know where I'm going with this - in the very beginning of the first book, Arthur C Clarke does an excellent job of describing an asteroid that slams into the Earth, destroying much of Europe. Only after that happened did Earth pool money to construct a watch platform to detect other rocks.

I fear that's the only way any sort of early detection is going to happen - a rock will have to annihilate hundreds of millions and wipe a country off the map first before humanity says "Oh! I guess space rocks really ARE a problem!"

Unless we find these objects 6 months or more BEFORE they hit us we won't be able to do much to stop them.

They knew about it for some time, but, they just did not make it public.

At least, until the danger had passed.

Originally posted by Siren
They knew about it for some time, but, they just did not make it public.

At least, until the danger had passed.

The potential danger from any observed object can not be calculated without multiple observations - this takes time (at the moment), so knowing about an object does not necessarily equate to knowing that it is dangerous.

Even if we did know about it long in advance, right now there's not much (if anything) that could be done about it.

I think they were probably tracking it, but they caught it late. So they kept quiet in case it did hit.

I can see there point of view, theres no point in saying "A big asteroid is coming and it might hit earth, we spotted it too late to do anything though. So just keep your fingers crossed eh" The streets would of been mad, people would of been raping and pillaging the neighbourhood.

reply to post by sos37


It's taken time, but gradually more resources are being put into hunting NEOs. Astronomers have been making noise about this problem for years now, and it is starting to be addressed now.

I doubt we'll take a big hit before things really swing into action, but anything is possible.