Asteroid misses Earth by 75,000 miles - closer than moo

[Guest]

Just seen on news that an asteroid the size of a football pitch missed Earth by 75,000 miles. To put it in context, the distance from the Earth to the moon is 240,000 miles. - SO.. basically a VERY near miss.It would have generated power of 1000 H bombs.Only one problem with this, is that it was "only" discovered 3 DAYS AFTER it had passed Earth. I thought we had technology which could detect such "small" objects.Very worrying, but too late to panic! Will

[Guest]

We'd better get Bruce Willis and freinds ready...:-lolScott

[Guest mikehaska]

It is a very scary prospect thinking we won't know what hit us untill it's too late.I always felt that we're in a tough spot right now. We are aware of asteroids and know we need to do something about them, but we are still developing the technology that will save us if we do see one.It's like the space of time when you find out you are in a construction zone to when you put on a hardhat- hoping nothing will happen until you get that hat on.But then again, if the government knew it was on a collision course, would they tell us? Probably not.(BTW, not to be rude, but this would be best in the General Discussions forum :-))

[Guest]

Yep i agree, sorry about putting in this forum, it's just that i tend to use it more than any other. (-: Will

[Guest DaveKDEN]

Hey Will,For those who might not know (myself included), what's a football pitch? I'm assuming it's another term for a soccer stadium?Dave

[Guest]

Hi :)I see the point :(BTW, not to be rude, but this would be best in the General Discussions forum )But if one is going to hit us can you please post it in this forum because in the general one i shall most proberbly miss it and that would be a pity :)I think it is ok to post gonna happen asteroids in this one ,is that ok ?Anniette xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[JimmiG 244]

Where did you see that? I looked at CNN, Sky News, CNBC Nordic...nothing about it. And there's nothing about it mentioned on any site. Nevermind, found it mentioned on Space.com. Thought you were trying to pull my leg for a while there :-lol

[Guest]

Us in the UK have BBC NEWS, it was on there.A football pitch is also known as a soccer stadium. Think about something about that size, then your on the right track.LaterWill

[Guest]

Humm...I knew about the one in March that the scientists missed (found it 4 days later). It passed a bit further than the distance from earth to moon and was a little smaller than a football (US) field.EDIT:Found it...Excerpt from JPL:"The 100 meter-sized asteroid 2002 MN passed within 0.3 lunar distances of the Earth on June 14, 2002, some three days prior to its discovery. According to its most likely orbital path, this object came within 120,000 km (74,000 miles) of the Earth"WOW!Ya know, that really is close considering we have bunches of geostationary sats at 23,000 miles.

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Rest assured--had the Asteroid been the size of a baseball stadium, as opposed to a football pitch, we would have heard about it here on this side of the pond :)

[Christopher Low 5,332]

That miss distance of 75,000 miles is very close to the record close approach of an object that has had its orbit subsequently calculated. 1994 XM passed by Earth at a similar distance in December 1994, but that object was only around the size of a house. This one would have done FAR more damage if it had impacted.Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Christopher Low 5,332]

Mike,The best that we can do at the present time is to set up a comprehensive survey program that would detect all known NEA's (Near Earth Asteroids) as soon as possible. This would require several large telescopes in both northern and southern hemispheres to be dedicated SOLELY to asteroid detection. The only thing stopping this at the present time is our respective government's continued refusal to provide the necessary funds to BUILD these telescopes. It's the same old story.In short, IT CAN'T HAPPEN TO US.Well, it CAN happen.........and one day, it WILL happen. Let's just hope that when that day comes, we have already come to our senses.Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Christopher Low 5,332]

Anniette,Just think. If it was posted in the General forum, and you missed it, then you would be safe. :-lolChris Low,ENGLAND.

[Christopher Low 5,332]

You wouldn't believe how much damage an object only 100 meters in diameter would cause if it hit the Earth. A football field is TINY compared to the size of our planet, but the energy released from an object of this size smashing into the Earth at thousands of kilometers per hour would be colossal. It would probably leave a crater a few kilometers in diameter, but the blast wave and massive amounts of vapourised rock ejected from the impact site at hypersonic velocities would cause utter devastation over a much greater distance.Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Guest]

Well, considering that a 70m object would have flattened a city the size of Atlanta (with the equivalent energy of a 4-megaton bomb) , you speculate what this one (100m) could have done. The scary thing is - we never saw it coming.The story of the previous (70m) near miss was carried by CNN in March.Nothing, so far on this one except a the JPL site. Well, maybe Martha Stewart is more important. :)