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Asteroid To Be Naked-Eye Visible In 2029
An anonymous reader writes "SPACE.com is reporting that asteroid 2004 MN4 will fly so close to Earth in 2029 that it'll be visible to the naked eye. Other than barely-visible Vesta, this is a first. And 2004 MN4 will be about magnitude 3.3 -- like a dim but easily visible star. A moving star in this case. You might remember 2004 MN4 is the one that sparked worry, in December, that it would hit Earth. No worries, NASA says, just a once-in-a-millennium sky show."
Remind me in 24 years, my memory isn't that great.
If we put together a mission, any chance we can park it at one of the Lagrange points?
how they can predict that closely 24 years in advance. There's got to be some margin of error.
The following table lists potential future Earth impact events http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/2004mn4.html
The package said "Windows XP or better. Pentium Class Processor or better"... So I got a Mac with OS X
Also a good test for our naquadria-enhanced nuclear warheads =)
what do we want to land on it?
Large stable platform.
Within Earth orbit (mostly).
A (radio?) telescope?
The Singularity is closer than you think
Quant
My ride outta here, man. It's comin'.
What about Skynet? Are the evil robots just going to put their plan on hold so we can watch the asteriod? I don't know about you, but I would be much more concerned about the polished-chrome evil robots with freakin' lasers, if you know what I mean.
Major T. J. "King" Kong: Survival kit contents check. In them you'll find: one forty-five caliber automatic; two boxes of ammunition; four days' concentrated emergency rations; one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills; one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible; one hundred dollars in rubles; one hundred dollars in gold; nine packs of chewing gum; one issue of prophylactics; three lipsticks; three pair of nylon stockings. Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.
I'm still waiting to see Halley's comet for the second time in my life (1986 when I was 10) and hopefully in 2061 (I'll be.... 85). Why ruin the fun by seeing this mere asteroid?
Of course, when the time comes the hype for it will no doubt be bigger than the hype for Kohoutek, Y2K, Star Wars episode I, and every version of Windows.
Sure
+/- 1 Apocalypse
Two ideas to test in 2029 are (1) dumping a bunch of white paint on the asteroid from a passing nuclear-powered interplanetary missile and (2) 1 week later, detonate a nuclear warhead loaded on another interplanetary missile that will fly close to but will not impact said asteroid. We had better test these ideas on a safe asteroid instead of waiting for the day when an asteroid aimed at earth actually arrives.
Given the fact that engineering is not perfect, if we do not actually test these anti-asteroid technologies in advance, then we run the high risk of failure when we use them for the 1st time on an actual asteroid destined for earth. To my knowledge, very few engineering products work correctly on the first try. 'Tis better to be safe than sorry.
There are also shooting stars occurring quite often, more now with the space junk we've got floating up there. And there should be at least two comets, which are effectively luminescent asteroids, visible this year as well.
Just make sure you get away from light pollution if you want the best opportunity to observe these spectacles. About fifteen minutes in any direction out of town will do, and will make you think seriously about more serious astrology (you'd be surprised how much can be done with under $1000 of equipment!)
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
We may still own a palm pilots by then?
Why can't all fpga/microcontroller manufacturers just release free optimizing compilers???
i for one would like to be the first to welcome our earth crushing asteroid overlor..... oh its not going to hit?
*tears down the "Welcome earth crushing asteroid overlords" banners*
as you were.
By the time 2029 comes along, light pollution will remove all detail in the night sky.
OR..... (3) Douse it with gas, set it on fire and give DrKyle a reason to die early.
We had better test these ideas on a safe asteroid instead of waiting for the day when an asteroid aimed at earth actually arrives.
I have a differing opinion on what constitutes a safe asteroid. A mistake on this asteroid could potentially be just as devistating as a mistake on one destined to collide with us.
I'd rather poke a few asteroids that don't come within 22,600 miles of Earth.
Heck, I hope their math and assumptions are good. With this many years, and assumptions you don't have to be far off for the big bang. That is, hit this blue marble instead of passing by.
Let's land on it with vaguely space shuttle looking craft (with coolness enhancements) that somehow manage to make noises and maneuver like an air craft in a near-perfect vacuum! They could even send two, and they could film each others maneuvers, and then we'd get a documentary about it! Let's man the craft with completely inexperience, untrained non-astronauts who will drill into the asteroid and plant nukular bombs to blow the asteroid in two!
:-)
Cool, totally original idea huh
Meanwhile, on 2004 MN4:
Alien technician: We will be flying close to Earth shortly, Lord.
Alien Overlord: Yes! This provides us an excellent opportunity to test some of our anti homo sapien proposals.
Since the asteroid is set to cross below the geosynchronous satellites, anyone report on the possibly of the asteroid taking out a handful of satellites? Like the GPS and communications satellites (i though they are in geosync orbits)
"This is you left and that's your left. This is your right and that's your right. You're gonna die!
in 2029:
Microsoft will have collapsed but Bill gates will be kept alive in an exo skeleton and run a criminal gang
Linux will have split into 2 branches: the new one is called Flinux and it's kernel will be 890 Terrabytes of polymorphing code
but you will be able to download it in a half a second and store it on a device the size of a pea. or pinhead. i'm not sure
Apple will have come out with the 100th generation iPod which will be a glowing sphere you stick up your rectum and will beam music rays into your brain
Steve Job's head will be kept alive attached to an iMac
Slashdot will run on 1 quantum computer
No worries, NASA says, just a once-in-a-millennium sky show.
Sure, that's how all these things start. But then later there is running and screaming!
Nukes couldn't even move this thing, how are we going to shift it 22,600 miles?
Do any of you star gazers have favorite sites that give updates on what will be visable each night?
this is a first
once-in-a-millenium
My friend, if this was a once-in-a-millenium occurance, this would be classified as "a 4,600,000th".
Or if you be of the Christian faith, a 6th.
NASA is accountable to the (ZOG) Government - without a doubt I can say that their assertion that MN4 is safe os more political than scientific.
Everyone knows that visible asteroids/comets are a harbinger of doom.
Maybe the Queen will die or something
If it passes within the orbits of geosynchronous satellites, what's the chance of it striking one of them? If it does, might it lose enough momentum to enter earth orbit?
After 288 clicks on the little calendar thingy I was able to add this event to my Outlook Calendar.
Though I REALLY hope I don't still work here then.....
Will Outlook 2029 be able to read my old calendar by then?
Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for the are subtle and quick to anger.
Wow. I'd never heard of that fetish before.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
not only that, but the parent talked about sending up nukes. Remember the deal when the Cassini launched? People don't like nukes, especially nuclear material attached to a rocket that may malfunction while trying to leave the atmosphere. Their is so much liability involved with this that it's just not practical.
We don't have to move the asteroid 22,600 miles. We only have to change it's vector a fraction of a degree and wait.
thats no asteroid... thats a space station!
My eyes will be too old to see it by then. And chances are from now till then, I'll likely look directly into lasers before I'll get a chance to look at the asteroid.
Whoa is me!
Live forever, or die trying.
Thank god. I was waiting to see a refrence to "Dig"
Does that mean they are redirected to fark?
if it hit the earth, that would be more easily visible.
If you guys could just aim the asteroid at this Best Buy near my house that would be great. They screwed up the wiring of my car stereo and wouldn't honour their warranty. I told them they'll get their karmic justice.
If you can do this, you guys can all come over to my place for a front seat view of the resulting fireworks.
Live forever, or die trying.
Anyone notice that the asteroid's closest approach to Earth will be on Friday, April 13, 2029?
and make an earth-satellite or moon-satellite out of it. Then we could put scientific equipment on it. Maybe we could use it as the outer station of a space elevator. Or use it as a test subject for rerouting space bodies that ARE going to hit the earth.
Since it's moving already, we could (as previously posted) land a probe on it and allow it to fly off into space under it's own inertia. Since it's already moving, we could land a very large nuclear powered unit on it with little fuel, allowing for more gear onboard. A telescope would be cool.
We could make a time capsule out of it... it's next pass would remind people in a thousand years of what life back then was like.
-ubuntu others as you would have others ubuntu you.
White paint? What, are you going to blind it so it can't see to hit us? :-p
You don't really think white paint is reflective enough to make a difference in an asteroid's orbit over any reasonable amount of time, do you? Or that we could effectively coat one in it?
p
In Korea, long hair is for old people!
and 23, 22, 21, 20, ... 1, 6 months...
why don't we send a probe onto this asteroid to take pictures as it's being carried far out into the galaxy? or does it move too slowly to be efficient?
We could tilt the US-rocketshield 180 degrees and let it try to hit this bigger target. Just to let the shield work on it's accuracy and go for the smaller (missile-)targets later.
If you mod this up, your slashdot background will turn into a beautiful sunset!
This is BBC news, its Friday, April 13, 2029, we join Patrick Moore at Greenwich to report on the flyby of asteroid MN4 2004..
Its clearly visible now, around Magnitude 3..
Now brighter..
magnitude 2.. 1..
My Word! What a treat for all you Astronomy buffs out there!
Magnitude 0.. -1.. -2..
It is the Brightest object in the sky now, clearly moving against the background of stars..
Magnitude -3.. -4..
But should it be this bright? And is it starting to get warm? Whats..
(Transmission cuts)
"You lied to me! There is a Swansea!"
And chances are from now till then, I'll likely look directly into lasers before I'll get a chance to look at the asteroid.
Stay away from sharks and you should be just fine.
I don't know about you folks, but I don't intend to let another full generation pass before we have basic things in place like a viable off-world colony and the ability to protect ourselves from the occasional ancient space-pebble.... I mean, come on. This will be a fun show but it's another sign from nature.....like aurora, meteor showers, earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunami, the very tides themselves....that the Universe is a very dynamic place and we had damned well better be ready for unexpected, occasionally violent change in the 'world as we know it.' Right now the Bush-driven NASA agenda for the Moon and Mars has us just barely managing to get first boots-on-dirt/regolith by this timeframe (2029-2030) and exactly how often has NASA been on schedule with manned objectives in the past two decades or so (no offense my friends, I support your work 100%)??? As for the core objectives of humanity as opposed to politicians, achieving the lion's share of those goals seems mostly like to come from good ol' "private enterprise" in all its bizarre and wonderful forms. I would imagine that Burt Rutan has a few thoughts on these things....
People don't like nukes, especially nuclear material attached to a rocket that may malfunction while trying to leave the atmosphere.
Problem solved if you mined and built the nuke in space.
I don't know offhand if the moon qualifies. Short of that, I'm sure the local interplanetary WalMart might work.
To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
....they will be lusting after each other for the next 24 years.
But Star Trek Enterprise is going to be replced by "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart" how will we know for sure"
how are we supposed to join the alien mothership following "asteroid 2004 MN4" ? we need a good name like HALE BOPP COMET!
THE TIME IS NEAR! PREPARE YOUR NIKE SHOES FOR TRANSPORT INTO THE OTHERWORLDS!
It's an asteroid!
I bet that's not what you thought I was going to say, right?
No worries, NASA says, just a once-in-a-millennium sky show. yes, if it does turn for the worst and decide to hit us, NASA does have backup. They will find the most unqualified oil drillers and Bruce Willis, then train them to become astronauts in a comical way, then of course the world will then count on them to destroy it, in which they will at the cost of Bruce Willis's life. So at least something nobody cares about will die if the asteroid is on a collision corse.
I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes. - Catcher in the Rye
The pictures of the predicted trajectory on the JPL press release page that CanSpice posted looks strikingly similar to the the arcade game Missile Command in which John Connor played in the movie Terminator 2.
I wonder, is that all it is? Just a game? Who's controlling the asteroid. I demand to know.
Oh, cool! I'll mark it on my calend... oh, 2029.
Just how am I supposed to remember that? Write it on a stickie and stick it to the side of my monitor?
I hereby bequeath my idea for a novel/movie about this asteroid to the Public Commons.
* Scientists announce that the asteroid 2004 MN4 will be visible from earth in the year 2029, but will miss striking the planet.
* An evil group of ___________ terrorists (fill-in with your preferred group) have stolen a nuclear device and have conspired with a foreign power with basic space launch capability to send a one-way suicide mission to the asteroid. The goal of this mission is to set off the nuclear device and divert the path of the asteroid so it will strike the earth.
The Hero (or Heroine), who belongs to a secret government group that discovers this plot, is assigned to stop the mission.
* The terrorists manage to launch the ship, but the only way for the device to detonate is by receiving a signal from the Terrorist Boss on Earth.
* Various car chases, fights, near death escapes, etc happen.
* The Hero (or Heroine) manages to finally confront the Terrorist Boss with his (or her) finger on the radio Send button that will signal the device on the asteroid.
* ??????
Visible. Yea, it'll be visible. That's one way to put it. Another way would be to heat up the cave coals. Again, look at the asteroid blasters that each country is constructing. It's gonna be a blast.
Ok, since it is on topic and I feel compelled to embarrass myself...
I spent some time in December when the asteroid hype began and designed a graphic. I hoped to cash in on the end of the Earth hysteria; however, within four hours of setting up the CafePress shop, scientists discovered old observations, recomputed the trajectory, and confirmed the miss - all but ending my dreams of tongue in cheek panic-profiteering.
So I present to you the design that might have been.
Enjoy
So, THIS is the big chance for catch-and-release.
Heck, with this lead up, high-school science fair kids could have a chance at landing at least a beacon, if not an ion engine.
It'll go away, but certainly it ought to take a tag along with it.
It wouldn't, at least not in any noticeable way. With a diameter of merely 300 meters, it should be around 50 trillion times (5*10^13) less massive than the Earth. When it moves 12,500 km (the Earth's diameter) in one direction, the Earth is moved a quarter of a micron in the other. It's basically a pretty small mountain in orbit, and it influences the Earth about as much as it's influenced itself by a small pebble, half an inch wide.
Or, we could say, "Space Shuttle, meet a grain of sand. It may dent your surface, but it will not change your orbit!"
I'm guessing that that was a proposal to divert a comet - painting one part white could possibly divert it over time by changing the amount of outgassing. You would have to paint one of the poles though, otherwise rotation would average things out. It would probably help to spray graphite over the other end.
I'm guessing that wasn't on their radar screen...
That's awefully freakin' close!
"I'm not impatient. I just hate waiting." - My Dad
There's no chance of error if you did the math right.
Everything is math and physics.
without a doubt, this can be repositioned in the next 25!!!! years. I say a direct hit is likely
I hope that NASA is right about MN4, or we could see, Hitchikers Guide to NASA Mis-calculations..."Don't Panic".
http://www.allometry.com
How can you have a five-digit userid and no karma bonus?
A wizard did it.
Warning, knife is sharp. Please keep out of children.
Just for reference (energy in megatons TNT):
This reminds me of the Conversation of Eiros and Charmion, for some reason.
Assume I was drunk when I posted this.
That will be my retirement party fireworks.
If my call is important, why am I talking to a recording?
NASA could have their figures wrong...
I mean, this *is* the agency that blew up a space probe because they couldn't remember to use metric or imperial units, and crashed that other probe becuse they installed the parachute sensor upside down.
So, what are the changes that NASA is wrong, and this thing *is* going to go smak into the pacific ocean? (or better yet, land on Redmond Washington).
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
My observatory is at 6,210' asl on a mountain in the middle of an island a long way from anywhere. The nearest towns are tiny, and not growing (in fact are declining in population) and the nearest cities are small and distant, with several decent mountain ranges between them and me.
My skies are about as dark as any you'll get outside of Antartica or the Arctic. Even allowing for some growth nearby (which isn't likely), light pollution is not something I'm losing sleep over.
However, most other ground-based astronomers are, and should be. I feel very bad for them.
2029!! I thought we are supposed to be worried about the Social Security thing in 2049!!
Everyone who is making making plans for 2029, please realise that by then we might have a technological Singularity already, with advanced nanotech, AI and immortality. To think that a "naked-eye" visible asteroid would be in any way exciting is insane! There won't be naked-eyes anymore. I don't expect to have unmodified eyes in 24 years and with built-in HUD and VR looking at the passing of the asteroid would not be any more exiting than looking at an asteroid in the asteroid belt or in the latest VR simulation.
Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
Same here. I'll be 77, saving any of that precious remaining eyesight for checking out the nurses at the doctor's office :-)
Unfortunately, my naked eyes will probably degenerate enough by 2029 that I won't be able to see it that way. {pout}
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
If you can do this, you guys can all come over to my place for a front seat view of the resulting fireworks.
I think I'll take a back seat. The asteroid impact calculator says that it will have an impact energy of 594 megatons, which is probably something I'd try to stay far away from.
It will, however, be quite effective at getting rid of that Best Buy.
--- The American Way of Life is not a birthright. Hell, it's not even sustainable.
It's the asteroid that the technodrome is stuck on in Dimension-X. Since Krang and Shredder couldn't pull the technodrome back to Earth, they pulled the entire asteroid into our solar system.
Sorry guys, forgot to carry the one... 102% of it hitting. Wait a minute...
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
Looks like it also gets pretty close to Venus. There has to be some way to use the thing, drop a telescope or dish on it and use it to triangulate stuff using the diameter of the orbit as a base. Would possibly lead to some new developments because you'd actually be able to do it almost real time, rather than in a model like now..
Cool! Amazing Toys.
...that most of us will be able to see in 20 or so years, after spending most of that time reading Slashdot on antique CRT monitors? ;>
I'll be lucky if I can see my own hand in front of me.