NASA says mysterious object hurtling towards Earth could be an asteroid or a comet

mirror.co.uk ^ | 11:20, 4 JAN 2017 | Libby Plummer

[BenLurkin]

NASA recently spotted two massive space objects hurtling towards Earth.

While the American space agency has pinpointed one as a comet, the other has left it slightly more baffled.

The comet is set to fly close to Earth this week, but the mystery object isn't expected to make an appearance until February.

The object, dubbed "2016 WF9", was detected by NASA's asteroid- and comet-hunting NEOWISE project on 27 November 2016.

It is roughly 0.3 to 0.6 miles (0.5 to 1 kilometres) across and is in an orbit that takes it on a scenic tour of our solar system.

At its farthest distance from the sun, it approaches Jupiter's orbit.

Over the course of 4.9 Earth-years, it travels inward, passing under the main asteroid belt and the orbit of Mars until it swings just inside Earth's own orbit.

After that, it heads back toward the outer solar system.

[Paladin2]

[Clay+Iron_Times]

Wormwood in Russian is Chernobyl

[CtBigPat]

That is awesome!

[ConservaTeen]

It is an UFO...it’s an object, unidentified and it is flying, Right?

[Pagey]

http://neowise.ipac.caltech.edu/

Go down to “Current Status” in the Middle of the page. That’s as of Mid Dec 2016.

[Larry Lucido]

We'll grab dinner first. Table will be ready in five, ten minutes.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

Rama #1?

[Williams]

No, I read an article by a famous astronomer who said exactly that, he fears we may not see a big one until it enters the atmosphere.

[bankwalker]

Hey dp. Try to find a book called lucifers hammer from the mid 70s. Earth passes through the tail of a comet. Then the fun begins with the breakdown of civilization...

[dp0622]

Wow. That’s pretty terrifying.

[dp0622]

Thanks man. Sounds like my kind of book :)

[right way right]

Revelation 8

[21twelve]

I recall reading about a large object that flew closer to the earth than the moon. It was large enough to cause a lot of damage. NASA didn't see it until AFTER it had passed by! The sun was in their eyes - literally!

So - the answer is - it could happen today. (Along with a massive earthquake, volcano, tsunami, fire, etc.)

[21twelve]

https://watchers.news/2016/08/29/asteroid-2016-qa2-makes-exceptionally-close-earth-flyby-hours-after-discovery/

The above link is to one object among a host of many. Up to 52 meters in size, with .2 Lunar Orbits of the earth, passed by earth hours after it was discovered.

[21twelve]

https://watchers.news/2016/03/18/asteroid-2016-ef195-detected-4-days-after-very-close-fly-by/

This may have been the one I was thinking of. 50 meters in size, .08 lunar distance(!!!), detected four days AFTER it passed by. That one that skimmed over Russia a few years ago was estimated at 25 meters in size.

[21twelve]

Trying to find out about damage from a 50 meter object:

“The smaller an asteroid, the more numerous they are, is the general rule of thumb for our solar system. According to the best estimates, objects 3 meters across impact the Earth and deliver about 2 kilotons of TNT of energy. Objects 100 meters across collide with the Earth every few hundred years and deliver about 2 Megatons of TNT equivalent. A 1 kilometer-sized object impacts the Earth every million years or so and delivers about 100,000 Megatons of TNT.

Now, the good news is that the Earth’s atmosphere shields us from objects that are initially below about 100 meters in size because they break-up and evaporate before reaching the ground. Still, the famous Tunguska Event in 1908 was a 50 meter stony meteor which evaporated about 20 kilometers above the Earth, and still flattened trees in a 30 kilometer area. Its yield was about 10 Megatons of TNT, and the frequency tables predict that such strikes should happen every 100 years or so. The next one could happen any day between now and 200 years from now!”

[dp0622]

I’m just now linking to all of your links.

Thanks for all the info!!

Hours AFTER. Great.

I thought we could see ####ing 10 billion light years out or something?

I dont know what the #### I’m talking about :), but I thought we had Incredible telescopes.

I dont understand how we track meteors/asteroids or what the difference is.

[21twelve]

I guess the telescopes that can see millions of light years away are for the big, “stationary” things. Harder to see the “little” things. I mean, even to think that we can detect an object half a football field in size at hundreds of thousands of miles is pretty incredible. Not like we can do much about it.

Sort of like we can see the big semi down the road in front of us. Can’t see the pebble that hits our windshield. And even if the semi lost a rock off the back end - how many of us keep enough distance to be able to stop in time even if we did see it?

[dp0622]

Man you’re sharp.

I HATE that so many people are smarter than me on this board :)

But your example should be in school text books.

I dont know what I was thinking. Those stars we see (though likely dead now) are YUGE.

I’m thinking we could see something smaller than a football field 100s of thousands of miles away :)

[21twelve]

“I’m thinking we could see something smaller than a football field 100s of thousands of miles away :)”

I have no idea what the resolution on that stuff is. I’m sure somebody knows. Of course if they told us, then they’d have to kill us!