Huge Asteroid to Fly by Earth Thursday

Not another niburu crap fight thread. Good lord people go play elsewhere.

I will watching this one online. Again makes you think how much warning we'd get if this had our name on it.

For anyone who wants to watch, provided the weather is good I'll be providing live video of the asteroid tonight through my telescope starting around 11pm or 12 am eastern time here:
www.justin.tv...

reply to post by ngchunter


Star for you!

The weather here in SC has be wet and overcast at night for several days now, so I would definately apprciate it.

reply to post by ngchunter

be glad if u are,be there to watch,thanx

Originally posted by one_small_step
Again makes you think how much warning we'd get if this had our name on it.

Depends on how many oppositions it is discovered prior to impact. Such an object can be found decades prior to impact, and there are quite a number of possible future impactors out there right now. Here's an orbital analysis I recently did of the most significant one currently known.

Worst case scenario is that we find out about a week prior to impact. For those who think NASA would "cover it up," amateurs are intimately involved in the discovery and verification process, and their data goes directly into refining the orbit of the asteroid. Such a scenario would unfold similarly (though hopefully more organized) to AL00667, where amateur observations helped provide critical data to either confirm or refute the possibility of impact. We would not know right away that an impact was certain, it would all be a matter of probability until more observations could confirm it. That's precisely why an amateur ruled out an impact of AL00667 by searching the area occupied by the "virtual impactors" where it would be if it were going to impact. That's the same principle used in my video above to illustrate what an impact possibility looks like. That particular possibility still exists.

reply to post by eriktheawful

Sorry to hear that. We had a bout of bad weather here in Florida that prevented me from seeing the Venus transit. I guess this is the consolation prize, the skies like nice and blue right now and it looks like the gulf breeze is going to keep the clouds to the west tonight.

reply to post by ngchunter


BTW - I assume you meant 11pm or 12am, not 12pm correct?



I'll be watching more than likely. I would have said last night would be good for going out (I was going to do an experiment with my scope to show some people what very close out of focus objects look like through the telescope, but it got cloudy just as the sun set, and then thunder boomers.......It's that time of the year for us here.

Plants love. Backyard astronomers hate it.

Originally posted by eriktheawful
reply to post by ngchunter

 

BTW - I assume you meant 11pm or 12am, not 12pm correct?

Yes, sorry. I didn't sleep last night. Won't be sleeping much tonight either.

I'll be watching more than likely. I would have said last night would be good for going out (I was going to do an experiment with my scope to show some people what very close out of focus objects look like through the telescope, but it got cloudy just as the sun set, and then thunder boomers.......It's that time of the year for us here.

Plants love. Backyard astronomers hate it.

Yuppers. My club doesn't even try to do public viewings during the summer, there's usually no point.

Is it just me or are there alot more of these 'sudden' encounters these days. Wonder if were going through a more active part of space atm.

Originally posted by Idonthaveabeard
Is it just me or are there alot more of these 'sudden' encounters these days. Wonder if were going through a more active part of space atm.

No, not really, we're just getting better at detecting them. These objects all orbit the sun and they've been orbiting the sun for a very long time. This asteroid has a semi-major axis of 2.5 AUs, so it's firmly a part of the inner solar system just like we are.

Originally posted by ngchunter

Originally posted by Idonthaveabeard
Is it just me or are there alot more of these 'sudden' encounters these days. Wonder if were going through a more active part of space atm.

No, not really, we're just getting better at detecting them. These objects all orbit the sun and they've been orbiting the sun for a very long time. This asteroid has a semi-major axis of 2.5 AUs, so it's firmly a part of the inner solar system just like we are.

Stiil a decent question though, if there can be rocky bodies from outside of the solar system, and it seems there are. Conversely, there are those who even postulate that earth could have seeded other rocky planets out of our solar system with life from collisions.

Originally posted by smurfy

Originally posted by ngchunter

Originally posted by Idonthaveabeard
Is it just me or are there alot more of these 'sudden' encounters these days. Wonder if were going through a more active part of space atm.

No, not really, we're just getting better at detecting them. These objects all orbit the sun and they've been orbiting the sun for a very long time. This asteroid has a semi-major axis of 2.5 AUs, so it's firmly a part of the inner solar system just like we are.

Stiil a decent question though, if there can be rocky bodies from outside of the solar system, and it seems there are. Conversely, there are those who even postulate that earth could have seeded other rocky planets out of our solar system with life from collisions.

I'm sure there are, but encountering one would be very, very rare. I have yet to hear of any asteroid discovery involving a hyperbolic trajectory. On rare occasions you'll find a comet like that, but a regular asteroid with that kind of orbit would be extraordinary anywhere in the solar system. The odds of such a rare object also being on a collision course are virtually nill.

reply to post by smyleegrl


Awesome, thanks smelyygrl

Maybe the live youtube stream will work to..
got to love nasa hi-def 480p streams

Under 15 mins till showtime.

events.slooh.com...

Originally posted by ngchunter

Originally posted by smurfy

Originally posted by ngchunter

Originally posted by Idonthaveabeard
Is it just me or are there alot more of these 'sudden' encounters these days. Wonder if were going through a more active part of space atm.

No, not really, we're just getting better at detecting them. These objects all orbit the sun and they've been orbiting the sun for a very long time. This asteroid has a semi-major axis of 2.5 AUs, so it's firmly a part of the inner solar system just like we are.

Stiil a decent question though, if there can be rocky bodies from outside of the solar system, and it seems there are. Conversely, there are those who even postulate that earth could have seeded other rocky planets out of our solar system with life from collisions.

I'm sure there are, but encountering one would be very, very rare. I have yet to hear of any asteroid discovery involving a hyperbolic trajectory. On rare occasions you'll find a comet like that, but a regular asteroid with that kind of orbit would be extraordinary anywhere in the solar system. The odds of such a rare object also being on a collision course are virtually nill.

Rarity would be a subjective word in the timescales involved. Comets are not really properly understood, yet they get absolution when it comes to being an allowed outer space object per their trajectory. Not only can they come into the solar system, they can get thrown out out as well.

reply to post by smyleegrl


Well, that was a waste. Timer said now, and then as soon as it hit to 0 it went to 2 days.

Saw nada and I was so hyped up for it.

Originally posted by Manhater
reply to post by smyleegrl

 

Well, that was a waste. Timer said now, and then as soon as it hit to 0 it went to 2 days.

Saw nada and I was so hyped up for it.

Refresh...

noob

reply to post by Juggernog


Still don't see anything. All I see is a white dot, that's it.

reply to post by Manhater


That's what you're supposed to see. It's time-lapse, updating every 60 seconds.