Posted on 12/06/2019 5:36:18 PM PST by BenLurkin
The space rock will fly harmlessly past our planet. Asteroid VH5 2019 will make its flyby at about 17.9 lunar distances on Dec. 8, according to the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The asteroid has dimensions of 57 meters (187 feet) by 130 meters (426.5 feet), NASA says.
Citing the asteroid’s dimensions, the Inquisitr website describes the rock as “pyramid-shaped,” noting that it is almost as large as the famous Great Pyramid of Giza. The Apollo asteroid is one of five space rocks set to fly by Earth over the weekend, according to the Inquisitr, all at safe distances.
A massive 2,000-foot asteroid harmlessly zoomed past Earth last month. In 2017, a skyscraper-sized asteroid named 2010 NY65 flew past Earth at about eight times the distance between Earth and the moon.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
By the orbital characteristics they have a reasonable estimate of the mass, and thus can make a SWAG on the size. I suspect Fox screwed up when they wrote “pyramid shaped” when it should read “pyramid size”. But pyramid shaped will probably get more clicks.
Infrared light and the reflection of that light can help them determine the size/dimensions.
Observations of infrared light coming from asteroids provide a better estimate of their true sizes than visible-light measurements. This diagram illustrates why. At left, are three asteroids with different sizes and compositions. Even though they are different, they can appear to the same to a visible-light telescope because they reflect the same amount of sunlight. It's impossible to know their sizes. For example, the small, white asteroid has a more reflective surface so it can appear to have the same brightness as a larger, dark asteroid. The same is true of a shiny penny and larger piece of dull copper -- they could, in some circumstances, reflect the same amount of total light. The right side of the illustration shows what happens in the infrared. When an asteroid is hit with sunlight, it radiates some of that back as infrared light. The amount of infrared light that comes off an asteroid thus depends on the size of its exposed surface area. When infrared and visible-light observations are combined, the reflectivity of a surface, or its albedo, can also be determined. http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/5898-sig14-019-How-to-Measure-the-Size-of-an-Asteroid
Yikes!
Radar.
Pyramid shape...call SG-1. The G’uald are coming.
Now we know where the pyramids came from. Egyptians were the original space aliens, and they brought their pyramids with them.
I hope it doen`t Cheop the earth into Khufu.
In space nobody can hear you whiz.
The scary thing is that “orbit” means continual freefall. Except that you are also going forward, but not fast enough to escape.
Just a little slower, and the moon would crash.
If we went a little slower, we’d crash into the sun.
Then we’d really need to raise taxes!
In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the LORD at its border. It will be a sign and witness to the LORD Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them. (Isaiah 19:19-20)
“Asteroid VH5 2019 will make its flyby at about 17.9 lunar distances on Dec. 8.”
OK, campers. That means the football field-length pointy rock is going to miss us by over FOUR MILLION MILES. Scary.
> Asteroid VH5 2019 will make its flyby...
Never-mind.
I was about to make a crack about how VHS was so last century and the asteroid should now be called Blue-ray 2019, then I saw that it was really VH5, so, never-mind.
Things like this happen sometimes. Back in the day when I read the fake news on fish-wrap I saw an add for USED CATS.
It was the header for the used automobile section.
> A miss is as good as a mile.
Or, as one of the real Doctors once said,(or will say one day), “A Miss is as good as her smile!”
Tiny rock. Not worth the worry associated with the head line.
*ping*
Indeed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.