Thanks LibWhacker.
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Posted on 02/06/2016 2:42:17 AM PST by LibWhacker
An asteroid as long as a basketball court will give Earth a close shave next month — though scientists aren’t sure just how close.
The near-Earth asteroid 2013 TX68, which is thought to be about 100 feet (30 meters) in diameter, will zoom past our planet on March 5. The space rock could come as close as 11,000 miles (17,700 kilometers) — less than 5 percent of the distance from Earth to the moon — or stay up to 9 million miles (14.5 million km) away during the flyby, NASA officials said.
“The variation in possible closest-approach distances is due to the wide range of possible trajectories for this object, since it was tracked for only a short time after discovery,†NASA officials wrote in a statement Wednesday (Feb. 3).
There is no danger that 2013 TX68, which was first spotted in October 2013, will collide with Earth on this pass, researchers said. However, there is an extremely slight chance — less than 1 in 250 million — of an impact on Sept. 28, 2017, and even lower odds during flybys in 2046 and 2097.
“The possibilities of collision on any of the three future flyby dates are far too small to be of any real concern,†Paul Chodas, manager of the Center for NEO Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in the same statement. “I fully expect any future observations to reduce the probability even more.â€
Just two years ago, 2013 TX68 flew by Earth, at a distance of 1.3 million miles (2 million km).
Scientists think the near-Earth object that exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February, damaging buildings and injuring more than 1,000 people, measured about 65 feet (20 m) across. If 2013 TX68 or another asteroid of its size were to slam into Earth, it would probably explode in an airburst about twice as energetic as the Chelyabinsk event, NASA officials said.
Or Mecca
Yeah, thanks a lot Superman.
When they get to about the size of a football stadium, start saying your prayers.
Me too!
Laser test to ensue?.
Those are very good questions. But I’m afraid I don’t have any good answers.
As seen from Earth, this asteroid has been close to the Sun most of the time since it was discovered, and so has been unavailable for viewing; the amount of data on it is meager.
As I recall, there are a handful of “orbital elements” that completely determine any orbit. Maybe they have interval estimates for each of them, and by plugging in those numbers they can get a best and worst case scenario?
Hot Fudge Saturdae!
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Noooooooo! Bite your tongue. Or your keyboard. Yeah, that’s it, bite your keyboard! LOL! We don’t need no stinkin’ Hammer here....
A few years ago I read a book about the potential danger from the sky. The book pointed out that the Southern Hemisphere has only about 1 tenth the number of observers that are at work in the Northern Hemisphere. This includes both professional and amateur astronomers. The book suggested helping interested folk in the SH acquire telescopes and communications to help watch for these dangers.
When the possible trajectories range from 11,000 miles to 14 million miles that statement is ludicrous.
They haven't had 2 years of observation. They had a brief glimpse of it 2 years ago as it approached the sun. It's been behind the sun since then and will approach us coming from the sun, just as the meteor that exploded over Russia did.
It’s true, and one problem in the southern hemisphere is that most of the Earth’s land surface is n of the equator. Equatorial observatories can (over the course of a year) view all or almost all of the sky, but need to be at high altitude for the lower temps.
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