Posted on 02/29/2016 6:53:00 PM PST by rdl6989
AN ASTEROID set for a staggering close whistle past of Earth in just 10 days could return to strike the planet as early as next year, NASA has admitted.
We are expected to be risk free when the space rock hurtles past us at as close as 11,000 miles away - 21 times closer to us than the moon - on March 8.
But the US space agency cannot yet be 100 per cent certain about its orbital path.
NASA gives near-Earth asteroid a condition code regarding the certainty of its travel from one to 10, with the latter meaning least certainty.
(Excerpt) Read more at express.co.uk ...
Ping.
We’re all gonna die.
Perhaps it can be diverted to mecca or medina. It would be fitting.
I will buy no green bananas.
There’s a better chance of hitting the lottery than that asteroid hitting Earth.
> so we need Hillary for that 3:00am call <
is it just me, or are there more nervous people in public positions these days
if it happens, it happens and we can’t do anything about it
We tried to get off planet over the last 50 years, and the powers that be said no
don’t come to us whining
...did not mean that for you...
Odds are whatever survives entry into the atmosphere will hit the sea.
If it hits, I hope it’s quick and unexpected. I hate waiting for the inevitable end.
I think you can buy them for another 11 months or so.
Hmmm, wonder if it might throw a few satellites out of orbit.
Additional observations of asteroid 2013 TX68 have been obtained, refining its orbital path and moving the date of the asteroid's Earth flyby from March 5 to March 8.
The observations, from archived images provided by the NASA-funded Pan-STARRS asteroid survey, enabled scientists at NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, to refine their earlier flyby and distance predictions, reconfirming that the asteroid poses no threat to Earth.
"We already knew this asteroid, 2013 TX68, would safely fly past Earth in early March, but this additional data allow us to get a better handle on its orbital path," said Paul Chodas, manager of CNEOS. "The data indicate that this small asteroid will probably pass much farther away from Earth than previously thought."
Marco Micheli of the European Space Agency's NEO Coordination Centre (NEOCC/SpaceDys) in Frascati, Italy, is the astronomer who identified the object in the archived images, measured its position, and provided these observations to the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
CNEOS's new prediction for 2013 TX68 is that it will fly by roughly 3 million miles (5 million kilometers) from our planet. There is still a chance that it could pass closer, but certainly no closer than 15,000 miles (24,000 kilometers) above Earth's surface. The new observations also better constrain the path of 2013 TX68 in future years; CNEOS has determined that 2013 TX68 cannot impact Earth over the next century.
"There is no concern whatsoever regarding this asteroid - unless you were interested in seeing it with a telescope," said Chodas. "Prospects for observing this asteroid, which were not very good to begin with, are now even worse because the asteroid is likely to be farther away, and therefore dimmer than previously believed."
Orbit calculations of asteroids are constantly updated based on observations reported to the Minor Planet Center. This results in projections of minimum, maximum and nominal distances from Earth, which can sometimes have a wide disparity due to limited data. Over time, with additional observations added to the equation, scientists are able to refine and narrow the orbit uncertainties.
No Trump jokes allowed!
Wow, that takes me back a few years, to an Atari 2600 hooked up to the TV in the living room when I was about 12.
I hear that the wall recently “got 10 feet higher” — so it’s a start.
If the asteroid misses us, Obama will probably take credit.
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