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Large Asteroid To Make Closest Pass By Earth In Over A Century Next Week
https://www.iflscience.com ^
| 15 FEBRUARY 2022
| Dr. Alfredo Carpineti
Posted on 02/15/2022 9:37:40 AM PST by Red Badger
On Tuesday, February 22, Asteroid (455176) 1999 VF22 will fly past Earth at around 2:54 am EST.
This object is classified as "potentially hazardous" as it gets near our planet and is fairly large, but next week's flyby is perfectly safe. The space rock won’t get closer than 5,366,000 kilometers (3,334,000 miles) – that’s almost 14 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
NASA’s Small-Body Database gives an absolute magnitude for the object of 20.7, but without an albedo – the fraction of reflected light by the surface – it is very difficult to estimate its true size. The ballpark figure is between 190 and 430 meters (623 to 1,410 feet), and some observations in 2019 estimate it at 225 meters (738 feet).
This is the closest passage that this space rock will have with our planet for over a century. For this asteroid to pass closer to our planet than next week’s encounter one would have to wait until 2150 – coincidentally also around the same date, February 23.
Observations of asteroid 1999 VF 22 from last week. Image Credit: Gianluca Masi/ Virtual Telescope Project Its closest previous encounter was in 1999, on October 31. Despite being large and close to Earth, it was actually not discovered until days later on November 10 by the Catalina Sky Survey.
If you want to try to see it pass by, you’ll need a good telescope – or you can check out the live stream of our friends at the Virtual Telescope Project starting at 7 pm EST on February 21 below:
VIDEO AT LINK.................
TOPICS: Astronomy; History; Outdoors; Science; UFO's
KEYWORDS: 1999vf22; 455176; asteroid; asteroids; astronomy; catastrophism; science
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To: Red Badger
Interesting graphic. Looks scary!
...until you read that the closest it'll get will be about 3 million miles...
2
posted on
02/15/2022 9:40:41 AM PST
by
COBOL2Java
(Fauci is a despicable little turd)
To: Red Badger
3
posted on
02/15/2022 9:41:09 AM PST
by
BenLurkin
((The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.))
To: Red Badger
My albedo has gone down quite a bit too.
4
posted on
02/15/2022 9:41:21 AM PST
by
Steely Tom
([Voter Fraud] == [Civil War])
To: COBOL2Java
"Oh my God, it looks like a giant......"
5
posted on
02/15/2022 9:41:26 AM PST
by
dfwgator
(Endut! Hoch Hech!)
To: Red Badger
This object is classified as "potentially hazardous"The closest distance will be 3,334,000 miles. That's 14 times the distance from Earth to the moon.
6
posted on
02/15/2022 9:42:48 AM PST
by
Carl Vehse
(A proud member of the LGBFJB community)
To: Red Badger
Large Asteroid 2022 - Just End It Already!
7
posted on
02/15/2022 9:43:58 AM PST
by
dfwgator
(Endut! Hoch Hech!)
To: Steely Tom
My albedo has gone down quite a bit too. Try eating oysters, and maybe cut back on alcohol.
8
posted on
02/15/2022 9:44:07 AM PST
by
Sirius Lee
(They intend to murder us. Prep if you want to live and live like you are prepping for eternal life)
To: dfwgator
9
posted on
02/15/2022 9:44:44 AM PST
by
Yo-Yo
(Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
To: Yo-Yo
What a stupid movie that was.
10
posted on
02/15/2022 9:45:54 AM PST
by
dfwgator
(Endut! Hoch Hech!)
To: COBOL2Java
11
posted on
02/15/2022 9:46:20 AM PST
by
Magnum44
(...against all enemies, foreign and domestic...)
To: Red Badger
12
posted on
02/15/2022 9:48:47 AM PST
by
Magnum44
(...against all enemies, foreign and domestic...)
To: Magnum44
Its a giant baked potato Yum! Pass the chili and cheddar cheese!
13
posted on
02/15/2022 9:50:18 AM PST
by
COBOL2Java
(Fauci is a despicable little turd)
To: COBOL2Java
...until you read that the closest it'll get will be about 3 million miles... Well, on a galactic scale, three million miles is a near miss.
14
posted on
02/15/2022 9:50:37 AM PST
by
IYAS9YAS
(There are two kinds of people: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.)
To: Red Badger
15
posted on
02/15/2022 9:54:11 AM PST
by
Hebrews 11:6
(I won't let the rocks cry out in my place)
To: Magnum44
It was cooler when the Stargate SG1 team saved Earth by creating a wormhole through which both the ship and the asteroid passed through harmlessly just before impact.
16
posted on
02/15/2022 9:56:44 AM PST
by
Sirius Lee
(They intend to murder us. Prep if you want to live and live like you are prepping for eternal life)
To: Red Badger
To: Hebrews 11:6
Don’t look up!.........................
18
posted on
02/15/2022 10:00:24 AM PST
by
Red Badger
(Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
To: Red Badger
Every twenty million years a 'big one' hits the earth... Yep, this could be the week. /s
19
posted on
02/15/2022 10:01:19 AM PST
by
GOPJ
(We can ignore reality, but we cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality. Ayn Rand)
To: Hebrews 11:6
50’s fear porn... good one Hebrews..
Yep, every twenty million years or so a ‘big one’ hits the world - this could be the one. /s
20
posted on
02/15/2022 10:04:17 AM PST
by
GOPJ
(We can ignore reality, but we cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality. Ayn Rand)
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