Asteroid: How to watch 1KM-wide 'potentially hazardous' space rock skim Earth TOMORROW

www.express.co.uk ^ | By Tom Fish PUBLISHED: 17:14, Thu, Oct 24, 2019 | UPDATED: 17:31, Thu, Oct 24, 2019

[Crazieman]

Dumb article didn’t say how far. Had to check other sources.
3.8M miles.
15.2X distance to the moon.

[cuban leaf]

That’s not that close.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

Thank You for getting that import information and posting it. I was just getting ready that pullin my side mirrors on my pick up truck in case it was gonna be pretty close. /sarcasm

[Migraine]

Thanks — you looked it up so I don’t have to. Unbelievable that such an article was posted without that trivial info.

[Spirochete]

space rock skim Earth TOMORROW

By "skim", they mean approaching no closer than 19 times the moon's distance.

[P.O.E.]

[Rebelbase]

It’s too late to send up Harry Stamper and the crew to blow it up.

[Red Badger]

There’s one coming in December that will be closer than the Moon!......................

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

11.21km per second or 25,076mph (40,356kph).

From https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi#results (You will have to fill in the form)

Time: 2019-Oct-25 17:21 UTC
Visual Magnitude: 12.91 (very dim requires a 12" aperture telescope)
Distance from center of earth: 6,216,043 km
Velocity with respect to the sun: 31.67750 km/sec
Velocity with respect to the geocenter: 11.21 km/sec

[Mastador1]

Where is the ‘OH MY GOD WE ARE GOING TO DIE’?

[crusty old prospector]

I’m skeered. Hold me.

[Telepathic Intruder]

In all fairness, in astronomical terms, 15 X the distance to the moon is considered a near miss. For something that big, anyway.

[HighSierra5]

A miss is as good as a mile.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

That’s not that close.

In astronomic terms...it's within a whisker of impact.

[kjam22]

New meaning to the term “skim”

[DannyTN]

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

There’s one coming in December that will be closer than the Moon!...

No...no there isn't. The article that was initially published by The UK Daily Mail stated 177,000 miles. They forgot a few zeroes. Comet 2I/Borisov will be around the orbit of Mars...approximately 183 million miles...in December.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Or did you forget the sarc tag? Darn it, I can never tell when you people are joking.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I see the article managed to confuse you, too. The 7.5 million kilometer is the distance of closest approach of an object to earth's orbit to be considered potentially threatening. This individual will approach to within 6.21 million km (about 16.3 times lunar distance) on this occasion but its orbit may approach even more closely to earth's. I suppose its potentially threatening because a small tug on its orbit by Jupiter or Venus could set it on a collision course with earth.