Near Asteroid 2012DA 14 coming very close in 2013

Sorry if reference to this Asteroid has already been posted, but just thought it is coming very close .
It may not be a huge asteroid but surely could destroy a major city , although at this stage NASA says it will miss by three earth distances.neo.jpl.nasa.gov...

reply to post by OrionsWitness


bbbbbbut the world isn't supposed to end in 2013....it supposed to end Friday!! =(

and a side note....we should ban asteroids....and space...I think I speak for everyone when I say "enough is enough"!! something has to be done...

on topic...I wonder if this thing will be big enough to catch on a telescope? or naked eye?

reply to post by Sly1one


Jokes aside imagine if an asteroid comes by with armed aliens riding on it.
I guess if we disarm now they may go easy on us when they point their guns at us.

reply to post by OrionsWitness

A near-Earth asteroid – called 2012 DA14 by astronomers – will pass very close to Earth on February 15, 2013. Astronomers estimate that, when it’s closest to us, the asteroid will be about 21,000 miles (35,000 kilometers) away – much closer than Earth’s moon (about 240,000 miles away) – and closer even than some of our own orbiting satellites. Astronomers’ calculations of asteroid orbits can be trusted. After all, even decades ago, they knew enough about calculating orbits to send people to the moon and bring them safely back, and today we are able place our space vehicles in orbit around objects as small as asteroids. So, no, 2012 DA14 won’t strike us in 2013. There was a remote possibility it might strike us in 2020, but that possibility has been ruled out also.

Found Here

Here is another article on the asteroid you mention. It does not seem to warrent much concern but it is very interesting that it will pass quite near to us.

Originally posted by OrionsWitness
reply to post by Sly1one

 

Jokes aside imagine if an asteroid comes by with armed aliens riding on it.
I guess if we disarm now they may go easy on us when they point their guns at us.

jokes aside...couldn't we just ban aliens? They would comply wouldn't they?? In all seriousness I think the probability of hostile aliens is much lower than people think. I think in order to get to the point of interstellar space travel or even effective space travel/transportation in general you have to transcend violence....this is exactly why we haven't left home yet. Were too busy killing each-other down here funding war machines to put our efforts into anything else...military spending keeps going up....and space exploration spending keeps going down.

I could be wrong tho...

Originally posted by Sly1one
I wonder if this thing will be big enough to catch on a telescope? or naked eye?

It will be too faint for the naked eye, but visible in telescopes and good binoculars. I will try to spot it myself.

reply to post by wildespace

34,560 miles is not far away.
It is between 35m to 79 m in length or size.
Something odd about this.
Because the error factor in these calculations, could be a cause for concern.
in fact it is changing.
In the right direction its gone from 0.08 LDs to 0.09 LDs,.
But this isn't an exact science .
I would think this should be of some concern.
If it hits Earth (a big if) it could be catastrophic.
A potential size of 89metres sounds small.
But it is going so quick.
Hopefully you will need your binoculars.

It'd be so cool if it skimmed through our atmosphere... as in not a direct, head-on impact.
Low enough to wipe out a few buildings but not low enough to touch the ground and cause major wide-spread death. Bust in one side - cause a little mayhem - make for some awesome Youtube vids and then bugger off back into space out the other side for another few million years lol.

ahhh what a wondeful image.

I'll be on the lookout for it when it comes along.