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Asteroid whizzing by Earth six times closer than the moon
CNET ^ | 01/29/2017 | Eric Mack

Posted on 01/31/2017 8:32:27 AM PST by BenLurkin

2017 BH30, which was discovered Sunday by the Catalina Sky Survey just hours before passing by us at the creepy-close distance of only 40,563 miles (65,280 kilometers).

This asteroid is estimated to be between 15 to 32.8 feet (4.6 to 10 meters) in length, making it somewhere between the size of a truck and a...big truck. That's pretty small by asteroid standards, but it's also the closest spotted asteroid to pass us since September, when asteroid 2016 RB1 passed within 24,000 miles (about 39,000 kilometers) of our planet's surface, putting it almost as close as satellites in geosynchronous orbit.

This is the third asteroid to buzz by earth closer than the distance to the moon this year. We don't expect a closer pass by one of these visitors until October, when asteroid 2012 TC4 could come more than twice as close.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnet.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy
KEYWORDS:
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To: BenLurkin

I’m getting tired of all these vagrant asteroids whizzing by earth.

Can’t they hold it until they get by Saturn? There’s a C-store with a bathroom on Saturn.


21 posted on 01/31/2017 8:57:48 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: CMAC51

Obviously a Distinguished Graduate of Urinalism School.


22 posted on 01/31/2017 8:57:57 AM PST by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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TRUMP’S FAULT!!

(Come on. You KNOW it’ll happen)

;-)


23 posted on 01/31/2017 8:59:13 AM PST by RandallFlagg (Vote for your guns!)
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To: UCANSEE2
Why, when you ask people how FAR some location is away, do they tell you how many minutes it takes to get there ?

Or when you ask for an address they start giving you directions.

24 posted on 01/31/2017 8:59:13 AM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted. It belongs to the brave. - - Ronaldus Magnus Reagan)
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To: UCANSEE2

Drive time is more meaningful than miles, there are other variables. I don’t find it bothersome at all.


25 posted on 01/31/2017 9:00:41 AM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: BenLurkin

What does “six times closer” (than 240,000 miles) mean?


26 posted on 01/31/2017 9:02:58 AM PST by jiggyboy (Ten percent of poll respondents are either lying or insane)
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To: Mr. Douglas

Planet X (or is that Planet Y or Z) is comin’.


27 posted on 01/31/2017 9:04:26 AM PST by WKUHilltopper (WKU 2016 Boca Raton Bowl Champions)
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To: datricker

Interesting


28 posted on 01/31/2017 9:05:55 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: mikrofon

It’s the “hurtling towards” that you got to watch for.


29 posted on 01/31/2017 9:07:48 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: mikrofon

“is there some speed or directional difference between “whizzing by” or simply “buzzing by”

Scientifically speaking...buzzing by is an effect when you drink a six pack waiting to see it.

“Whizzing by” is the effect when you polish off the six pack before it gets here—and it passes by when you can’t hold it any long.


30 posted on 01/31/2017 9:08:16 AM PST by WKUHilltopper (WKU 2016 Boca Raton Bowl Champions)
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To: ClockDoc

Thank you. The headline had me laugh much so I couldn’t type.


31 posted on 01/31/2017 9:09:05 AM PST by Ray76 (DRAIN THE SWAMP)
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To: blueunicorn6
I’m getting tired of all these vagrant asteroids whizzing by earth.

Can’t they hold it until they get by Saturn? There’s a C-store with a bathroom on Saturn.

I TOLD those asteroids to stay away from the Chernobyl beer!


32 posted on 01/31/2017 9:12:50 AM PST by COBOL2Java (1 Tim 2:1-3)
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To: BenLurkin

33 posted on 01/31/2017 9:19:46 AM PST by Heartlander (Prediction: Increasingly, logic will be seen as a covert form of theism. - Denyse O'Leary)
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To: BenLurkin

I never understood this usage of our language. The object is 24,000 miles away. If it is six times closer, does that mean it is 144,000 miles closer?


34 posted on 01/31/2017 9:21:04 AM PST by doug from upland (Are we dreaming or is Hillary finally really gone?)
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To: CMAC51

So many ppl nowadays can’t handle fractions. :-)


35 posted on 01/31/2017 9:33:13 AM PST by SgtHooper (If you remember the 60's, YOU WEREN'T THERE!)
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To: lafroste

I agree. Substituting “twice as close” for half-the-distance is confusing and probably inaccurate.

For example, a 25% increase is the opposite of a 20% reduction. (Increasing 100 by 25% yields 125. Decreasing 125 by 20% yields 100.)

The language in the article is the popular way to describe things but is confusing to say the least.


36 posted on 01/31/2017 9:59:11 AM PST by unlearner (11/8/2016 - a new beginning.)
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To: WKUHilltopper

Too funny!!!


37 posted on 01/31/2017 10:12:42 AM PST by Paul R.
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To: datricker

Its disorienting.

The first one I saw looked like the size of a basketball, right over my car. It looked like it was moving slowly, and the fire coming off it looked like a massive sparkler.

Of course, it was way, way up in the sky...and it was still looked big.

You mind has to take a second or two to realize what it is.

That, every month or two, was the ONLY good thing about driving home two hours every other night, in the middle of the night.


38 posted on 01/31/2017 10:44:03 AM PST by Vermont Lt (Brace. Brace. Brace. Heads down. Do not look up.)
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To: COBOL2Java

They’re trying to get in before the “ban”.


39 posted on 01/31/2017 1:22:52 PM PST by YogicCowboy ("I am not entirely on anyone's side, because no one is entirely on mine." - JRRT)
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To: BenLurkin

It’s the “hurtling towards” that you got to watch for.

I was wondering about this object in the sky. It kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.


40 posted on 01/31/2017 2:01:47 PM PST by gnickgnack2 (Another bad day for Trump, he only got seven major things accomplished)
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