Asteroid 2004 FH

Spaceweather.com ^ | 3/18/2004 | NASA

[Orlando]

Newly-discovered asteroid 2004 FH is going to fly-by our planet TODAY, March 18th , 2200 GMT) 5:08 pm, est. only 43,000 km , which is only 26,500 miles from Earth.

[LibWhacker]

Make that 400 kilotons.

[Cold Heat]

"meteoroid" -> "meteor" -> "meteorite"

That was my understanding. The difference in terms all have to do with impact.

For example, you have space dust and debris, but when it hits something it becaomes a micro-meteorite.

It is a hit or miss thing I would suppose.

To glow, it would have to be a bit closer. Like around 90-120 miles or so, I believe. Much depends on how far the atmosphere extends, as it is varies depending on many factors.

120 would be about right in most places.

[Ichneumon]

And probably not an entire country

Well, technically, the Vatican is a country, so...

[Lawgvr1955]

Where's Sean Connery & Brian Keith when you need 'em? (if you get that reference your as geeky as me!)

Not only do I get the reference, I remember playing the pinball machine made on the movie's theme when I was in school. Shows both geekdom and age!

[The Raven]

That's not a good feeling. That means if it had been on a collision course......it would be too late to do anything.

[Prince Charles]

I remember the movie... it could be described as "Fantasy Island" meets "Coast to Coast AM."

[Las Vegas Dave]

I would also add the approximately 60,000 mph (earth's rotation around the sun)to the 15,000 mph to get the direct hit speed of the collision, but if it hit at an angle, the direct hit speed would be less, but it still would be a disaster

[Las Vegas Dave]

If we knew where an asteroid was going to collide, would you want to know in 24 hours in advance? (The highways would be jammed, escape would be futile.)

[Capt.April]

I remember the movie... it could be described as "Fantasy Island" meets "Coast to Coast

YES! with Joeseph Campenela & Martain Landau as US Generals and NO digital SFX! It just doesn't get any better than that, kiddies!

Although I don't remember the pinball game. Must be worth a furtune now on the colletctor market.

[The Raven]

24 hours in advance? No - 5 months in advance - So we could nuke it before it nuked us.

[trickyricky]

[leadpenny]

Thanks ws. Maybe next visit it will give us a better show.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

But I do wonder how the Spaniards will react if it hits Spain...

They'll vote communist in the next election.

[Paul C. Jesup]

If we knew where an asteroid was going to collide, would you want to know in 24 hours in advance? (The highways would be jammed, escape would be futile.)

Dude, if necessary, with 24 hours, I could hike on foot to get outside the impact range, and/or find a very deep cave to hide in.

[tm22721]

This thing was only discovered Monday night.

If it had been Earth-threatening, we would not be reading this right now. The internet and all infrastructure would be 'offline' as people would not report to their jobs, generally behaving like there was no tomorrow.

[Amelia]

Heh, heh...they were double checking their math to see if it was going to hit.

Yep! :-)

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I'll see your 0.19 Megaton and raise you 8 Megatons. Typical asteroid velocities are ~44 km/sec, which gives 8.19 MT. If the density is higher by half add another 8 or so MT. Either way, DUCK.

[Tennessee_Bob]

"Oh, great... now there will be two of 'em." I think that's what we would have here.

Can't remember if it was in a movie or in a book - but after attempting to destroy an asteroid, the commentary was along the lines of "Now instead of a single bullet, we're facing a shotgun."

[Physicist]

Even if there is a 100ft space rock that close the odds of a hit are pretty big and even if it enters the atmosphere alot of it would burn up and what's left only has a 25% chance of hitting the ground.

That doesn't make it safe. The Tunguska bolide burned up completely before hitting the ground, yet it devastated a very wide area.

[Drammach]

I recently read about an NEA due in Sept. 04, that will be a near miss as well.

I thought this one was possibly it, but it was only recently discovered, and the one I read about was practically a month ago..

http://szyzyg.arm.ac.uk/~spm/neo_map.html

Take a look at the NEO distribution map at link above: