[Flick Lives]

...will actually pass our planet at a distance nearly nine times further away from us than the moon is.

—

9 * 238,900 = 2,150,100 miles

[politicianslie]

...will actually pass our planet at a distance nearly nine times further away from us than the moon is. —

9 * 238,900 = 2,150,100 miles

Since this is so much closer to the Earth than the supermassive black hole collision that LIGO detected, the mass of the object is so much less than a couple of supermassive black holes, those two factors would tend to cancel out.

The question is then due to disruption of space-time as the object passes by the Earth and moon, will the flag on the moon left by Apollo 11 wave? From my flying days, to get a flag straight the wind was probably about 20 mph. I'm sure some physicist might see the importance of this question and will apply to the BuyDEN administration for a grant. //sarc