Posted on 10/28/2022 9:21:26 AM PDT by BenLurkin
A newly discovered, "potentially hazardous" asteroid almost the size of the world's tallest skyscraper is set to tumble past Earth just in time for Halloween, according to NASA.
The asteroid, called 2022 RM4, has an estimated diameter of between 1,083 and 2,428 feet (330 and 740 meters) — just under the height of Dubai's 2,716-foot-tall (828 m) Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. It will zoom past our planet at around 52,500 mph (84,500 km/h), or roughly 68 times the speed of sound.
At its closest approach on Nov. 1, the asteroid will come within about 1.43 million miles (2.3 million kilometers) of Earth, around six times the average distance between Earth and the moon. By cosmic standards, this is a very slender margin.
If astronomers were to ever spy a dangerous asteroid headed our way, space agencies around the world are already working on possible ways to deflect it. On Sept. 26, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft redirected the non-hazardous asteroid Dimorphos by ramming it off course, altering the asteroid's orbit by 32 minutes in the first test of Earth's planetary defense system.
China has also suggested it is in the early planning stages of an asteroid-redirect mission. By slamming 23 Long March 5 rockets into the asteroid Bennu, which is set to swing within 4.6 million miles (7.4 million km) of Earth's orbit between the years 2175 and 2199, the country hopes to divert the space rock from a potentially catastrophic impact with our planet.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Is there some way of bumping this asteroid, so that it hits Washingtoon, DC? With my second choice being Hollywood. Either one is fine.by me.
All Saint Day.
“ Just love the Chicken Little posts... NOT!”
This is a very low probability event.
But a planetary extinction one.
We should have some type of a countermeasure for this ready .
We have the technology now to do it.
Hit the panic button! It’s only about six times farther away than the moon!
Ah, those were the days!
Asteroid nip - hahaha! That one's a keeper.
Uh, no, we don't.
The vast majority of NEO's are not seen until the last minute.
Even the ones we know about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wrc4fHSCpw&t=615s
A miss is as good as a mile.
I’m not a rocket scientist.
However it would seem we could develop and deploy a system that could deflect these.
Way better use of some funds than much of what we spend money on
Either that or “Earth” is being cancelled.
This is no way to run a universe.
NASA sphincters are tightening...
Lies are coming home to roost?
1500 ft in diameter. Uhh, pittance.
If I recall correctly one this size smacks into the Earth’s atmosphere yearly — and blows up like a small nuke.
Even if it hits, if we all wish real hard mebbe it will hit DC. Or, the Vatican.
I’d also list San Francisco but that is too damned close.
Shame on them for mentioning Holloween.
The ones that hit Earth’s atmosphere every year or so are more like 15 feet in diameter. Even the 1908 Tunguska bolide was only estimated at 50-80 meters.
The subject asteroid is described as being about the diameter of the height of a Dubai skyscraper that is a bit over 1/2 mile high. That is a really asteroid, and could destroy a lot of land and mess up the climate for a while. Links to follow.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/02/08/worried-about-asteroids-this-handy-calculator-will-assess-the-damage/ [This article has several links. The first is to a calculator for bolide size and effects.]
https://www.businessinsider.com/asteroid-sizes-that-can-damage-cities-states-planet-2018-6 [This link says a strike by an asteroid a little more tha 1/2 mile diameter would take out an area the size of Virginia, and have planetary effects.]
Only ~186,000,000 miles, about 16 and 2/3rds minutes, as the photon flies.
A bolide a mile in diameter, upon impact with Earth, would deliver more energy than all the Earth’s nuclear weapons combined.
A bolide a half mile in diameter would deliver 1/8th that amount (give or take) as there are three dimensions.
1056 ft diameter (1/5 of a mile) would deliver about 1/125th the amount of a one mile diameter object.
Any of these, give or take where it hits, would end our civilization.
Biden is only a fraction of a mile, and yet...
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