Asteroid to make near-miss fly-by

[RedMeat]

BBC News - Asteroid to make near-miss fly-by

An asteroid will pass by the Earth on Friday in something of a cosmic near-miss, making its closest approach at about 1600 GMT.

The asteroid, estimated to be about 11m (36ft) in diameter, was first detected on Wednesday.

At its closest, the space rock - named 2012 BX34 - will pass within about 60,000km of Earth - less than a fifth of the distance to the Moon.

Astronomers stress that there is no cause for concern.

"It's one of the closest approaches recorded," said Gareth Williams, associate director of the US-based Minor Planet Center.

"It makes it in to the top 20 closest approaches, but it's sufficiently far away... that there's absolutely no chance of it hitting us," he told the BBC.

The asteroid's path makes it the closest space-rock to pass by the Earth since object 2011 MD in June 2011.

Earlier estimates put the asteroid's closest distance at as little as 20,000km, near the distance at which geostationary satellites reside, but observations by observatories overnight showed it will pass at a more comfortable distance.

Although the asteroid will not be visible to the naked eye, Dr Williams said that keen backyard astronomers could get a look.

"We've had three sets of observations in the last few hours from amateur observers in the UK," he said.

Bit scary they only saw it coming on Wednesday.

 

[Data]

It's only 36 feet across.

Kinda hard to see something that small from far out.

 

[Amadeus]

BBC News - Asteroid to make near-miss fly-by



Bit scary they only saw it coming on Wednesday.

No it's not, because it's 11 fucking meters in diameter.

 

[RedMeat]

lol chill the fuck out i didn't say 'they should've seen it sooner' i just said its a bit worrying

 

[HollyW00d]

You've angered the nerds

 

[G-Force]

think i found the source of this rock

 

[LGBR]

I would like to know more.

 

[G-Force]

I would like to know more.

 

[SoulHunter]

for some reason Near-miss still sounds like it almost missed us

 

[Anguish]

If it nearly missed then doesn't that mean it HIT!?

 

[2good@tribes.com]

fuck my eyes r real red due 2 not enough sleep

co workers think i am high

good way 2 start day

 

[Zzyzxx]

If it nearly missed then doesn't that mean it HIT!?

Yes, if they said nearly missed, which they did not. They said near-miss. It's a small distinction, but an important one.

 

[T-Dawg]

Beam me up, 2012 BX34, this planet sucks.

 

[fartiusstinkius]

Apparently this came from a meteor estimated 50 m across. I guess we don't know anything about the comparison of speeds/compositions, but this gives some reference point to what it could have done.

 

[Fool]

If it nearly missed then doesn't that mean it HIT!?

It should. Nearly missing would logically indicate hitting.

 

[Oktane]

 

[RedMeat]

Apparently this came from a meteor estimated 50 m across. I guess we don't know anything about the comparison of speeds/compositions, but this gives some reference point to what it could have done.

From your link it says the estimated power of the impact was 10 megatons. The bomb dropped on Hiroshima was approximately 15 kilotons - shit.

 

[Zzyzxx]

nearly != near

 

[Morbid]

for some reason Near-miss still sounds like it almost missed us

Like pre-boarding an airplane. That means to get on the airplane before you get on the airplane.

 

[Al'Muktar]

Apparently this came from a meteor estimated 50 m across. I guess we don't know anything about the comparison of speeds/compositions, but this gives some reference point to what it could have done.

the 'kill-sat' idea theyre playing around with is to have shit in orbit that can send down 10m~ long/50cm thick tungsten rods

they figure it'd be equivalent to a tactical nuke just through sheer kinetic force, so a rock this big could do some shit ;f

edit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_bombardment

http://www.arclight.net/~pdb/hammer-lightnings/index.html