Thanks fieldmarshaldj.
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Posted on 06/25/2019 5:56:55 PM PDT by BenLurkin
An asteroid the size of a refrigerator was spotted by telescopes in Hawaii on Saturday, just before it collided with Earth's atmosphere and burned as a fireball in the sky due south of Puerto Rico. The harmless space rock, officially named 2019 MO, never had a chance of making it to the ground or doing much damage, as it was only about a tenth the size of the bolide that exploded in the atmosphere over Russia in 2013.
What's most interesting about 2019 MO, though, is the fact that it was spotted by telescopes beforehand. That's only happened four times in history, according to Italian amateur astronomer Ernesto Guido.
The other three times all happened in the last 12 years, including asteroid 2018 LA that made it all the way to the ground in Africa.
This doesn't mean space rocks are getting more aggressive in the 21st century, but that astronomers' equipment and techniques are getting better at spotting incoming asteroids.
Astronomer Peter Brown from Western University in Ontario noted that the impact was recorded at the equivalent explosive power of 5,000 tons of TNT.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnet.com ...
Astronomer Peter Brown from Western University in Ontario noted that the impact was recorded at the equivalent explosive power of 5,000 tons of TNT.
The "Little Boy" dropped on Hiroshima was equivalent to 16,000 tons of TNT.
Get ‘em to listen to the Carpenters for a little bit and they’ll skip back out of our atmosphere of their own choosing.
CC
It didnt hit anything, it burned up. Great headline though!
We've got to move these refrigerators.
and color TV’s....
;-)
cll: Was this seen by Puerto Ricans, and specifically in the San Juan area?
Hi, no. We didn’t find out until it came out in the news.
If you post it as a Puerto Rico ping list item might we hear from some people who did see it?
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