2020 ND:
Asteroid Bigger Than Statue of Liberty is Heading Toward Earth [Credit: NASA/ESA]
Posted on 08/02/2020 6:26:14 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
An asteroid named 2020 OY4, made its closest approach to our planet on July 28, when it was discovered just 26,000 miles away from Earth. It flew by earth at the range that rivals the orbits of some high-flying satellites.
This is extremely close in astronomical terms, and just 11 percent of the average distance between the Earth and the moon.
In fact, the data from NASA that tracks near-Earth objects suggests that the close approach of this asteroid was the closest that any asteroid will come to our planet for the next year.
However, if you measure by the minimum possible close-approach distance, one small asteroid, may come even closer in November, potentially passing at an incredibly close distance of just over 4,700 miles.
Astronomers snapped a photo of this asteroid on July 27 when it was located around 155,000 miles from earth.
Using one of the remotely-operated telescopes known as "Elena," Astronomers took a single, long exposure shot, in which the asteroid can be seen in the middle as a tiny, bright white dot.
The numerous white streaks in the image are stars, which appear like trails because the telescope was tracking the asteroid as it moved at high speeds of 27,700 miles per hour relative to Earth.
The asteroid, which measures under 10 feet, was discovered on July 26, 2020 during an astronomical survey conducted by the Mount Lemmon Observatory.
Despite it's close approach, there was no chance that the asteroid would end up colliding with Earth.
And even if it hits earth, Asteroid of this size always burn up in the atmosphere, meaning they pose little risk.
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
2020 ND:
Asteroid Bigger Than Statue of Liberty is Heading Toward Earth [Credit: NASA/ESA]
Asteroid Passed 'Extremely Close' To Earth Without Smacking Any SatellitesAsteroid 2020 OY4:
It could have at least knocked out CNN.
and do 10 million dollars worth of improvement.
“Lucifer’s Hammer” by Larry Niven is till a good read about earth getting bombarded by space rocks.
I hate it when asteroids have a desire for self-preservation.
A “near miss” has another name. A complete miss....
actually, I think I would prefer this end to the “death of a thousand cuts” of permanent democrat rule...
Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven. I'm surprised none of the woke sci-fi readers have found stuff in there to cancel. The authors' equating of the bolide with a giant sundae or whatever was amusing. I read it in the early 1980s I think, after I'd read "Ringworld", and probably wouldn't enjoy it now, because I'd be nitpicking the authors' rather poor grasp of the seriousness of such a large impact. That was one of the last fiction books I read (the only ones I've done since then have been audiobooks of Clive Cussler -- I suggest getting the abridged versions if available -- a re-read of LOTR before the movies came out, and a FReeper-recommended "Inherit the Stars" by, uh, last name Hogan I think.
26,000 miles? That’s a small fraction of the lunar orbit! That’s somewhere near the geosynchronous orbit, IIRC!!!
national geographic asteroids deadly impact (video search):
It could have smacked around some working satellite(s) or redirected the orbit of a dead one and wreaked some havoc up there.
Well, near misses aren’t usually all that near... but true near misses (like this one) can count... like in horseshoes.
The only catch is that this “asteroid” isn’t much more than a meteoroid.
Well, near misses aren’t usually all that near... but true near misses (like this one) can count... like in horseshoes.
The only catch is that this “asteroid” isn’t much more than a meteoroid.
“Near-by miss” might be a better term.
I don't think they downplayed the seriousness one little bit.
“The Black Cloud” by astrophysicist Fred Hoyle is pretty good, too. Published in 1957, the book details the arrival of an enormous cloud of gas that enters the solar system and appears about to destroy most of the life on Earth by blocking the Sun’s radiation.
In 1964, astrophysicists on Earth become aware of a cloud of gas and dust, initially thought to be a Bok globule, that is heading for the solar system. The cloud, if interposed between the Sun and the Earth, could wipe out most of the life on Earth by blocking solar radiation and ending photosynthesis. A cadre of astronomers and other scientists is drawn together in Nortonstowe, England, to study the cloud and report to the British government about the consequences of its presence.
Close to the Geo orbit (22,236 miles or 35,786 km) but still far enough away that it wouldn’t even hit the geosats that have been boosted into the graveyard orbit (~+250km). Bottom line, close to zero probability of a COLA event and it’s just the authors spicing things up with an imaginative pen to boost viewer readership.
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