Posted on 01/17/2022 2:23:10 PM PST by BenLurkin
This is the warning of NASA-funded experts who investigated how telescopes nearly missed a 328-feet-wide asteroid that came within 43,500 miles of Earth back in 2019.
The space rock, dubbed '2019 OK', was the first object of its size to get that close to our planet since 1908 — but it was only spotted 24 hours before its closest approach.
The reason, the team determined, is because it was moving towards us in such a way that its motion across the night sky was counteracted by the Earth's spin.
Thus — to early warning systems like Pan-STARRS1 at Hawaii's Haleakala Observatory — 2019 OK looked stationary, so did not set off the automated detection software.
In fact, the experts said, up to half of asteroids approaching Earth from a danger zone east of 'opposition' likely undergo periods of such apparent slow motion.
An asteroid is said to be at opposition when its position in the night sky places it along a line that intersects both the Earth and the sun.
This means that half of these asteroids could presently also be difficult to detect — and computerised telescopes will need to be updated to take account of the effect.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Exactly.
I needed to test the service before I could recommend them to anyone else.
Ignorance is greatly to be preferred.
Climate change, COVID and now we have to worry about sneaky asterisks.
Rusty: Hey, ya’ got Pac Man?
Cousin Dale: No.
Rusty: Ya’ got Space Invaders?
Cousin Dale: Nope.
Rusty: Ya’ got Asteroids?
Cousin Dale: Naw, but my dad does. Can’t even sit on the toilet some days.
They. can’t come fast enough.
Just dump a box of rattlesnakes out behind the trailer and let the kids round them.
It’ll keep ‘em busy for hours.
Cousin Vicki : I’m going steady, and I French kiss.
Audrey Griswold : So? Everybody does that.
Cousin Vicki : Yeah, but Daddy says I’m the best at it.
BULL!
This graphic is a STILL snapshot.
The earth is moving against a background of stars and the apparent motion of any external closeup object is going to show because of the dynamic parallax.
Are there asteroids on Uranus?
You get the other 68.
(You can always share with Laz...)
Assuming it's for the purpose of ridiculing/denouncing said fearporn, please count me in.
As an added twist to the "serious" fearporn, you might include the occasional Babylon Bee satire-fearporn article. Just to see it we're paying attention. :-)
Perhaps. After all, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Ignorance is greatly to be preferred.
So many ancient civilizations had sky-watching monuments (Stonehenge, Egyptian Pyramids, Mayan Snail-shell, etc.)
Maybe too much Art Bell listening back in the day, but I always wondered maybe they weren’t about planting crops, but a warning to watch for a cosmic interaction (some invisible star, space dust, etc.) that was headed our way.
Kind of like the Vogons and their hyperspace bypass.
If true, then Democrats should be dancing in the streets.
I don't see it.
Protesting, Yes - but no dancing...
They have discovered several large asteroids at distances closer than the moon .... AFTER they have passed by the Earth due to being blinded by the Sun.
In Robinson Crusoe he spent his first years(?) on his deserted island alone but in relative good spirits. Building a shelter, figuring out food, etc.
At some point he explored the far side of the island. On the beach he saw foot prints. His fear got the best of him. Pirates? Slave traders?? Canibals!!???
He ran back to his camp, built a stockade and hunkered down in fear for a year or two. Of course nothing happened.
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