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Asteroid Due for Close Approach
mernil writes "BBC Reports "A giant space rock was set to whizz past the Earth on Monday under the close scrutiny of astronomers. The mountain-sized object had been classed as a "potentially hazardous asteroid", but scientists say there was no danger of a collision with Earth. [...] At this time calculations suggested it would be about 268,873 miles (432,709km) from the Earth, only 1.1 times the planet's distance from the Moon."
so is there a chance that it will hit the moon?
My sig has been answered.
... I mean, I can shoot those babies down no problem... unless one of those annoying UFOs shows up.. I can never shoot those fast enough. *duh-duh duh-duh duh-duh duh-duh duh-duh duh-duh duh-duh*
The universe would not allow earth's civilization to end until after Pixar releases "Ratatooie." Otherwise, the cosmos will not yet have been properly balanced, in terms of Really Good Jokes About French Cooking(tm).
Also, Capital One won't let civilization end as long as I'm carrying a balance, so we can rely their Astroid Defense System, which works 21.5% even more than necessary. So, there's redundancy.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
This, as Adam Sandler would say, is news that would have been better if it had been brought to my attention yesterday!!!!!.
The article from CNN talks about it already whizzing past.
War isn't about who's right. It's about who's left.
I've tried to knock together a bit of a scale map to help visualise some of the proportions.
News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters ... Yesterday.
The little guy just ain't getting it, is he?
Back when I used to call myself an astronomer I coded up this map which shows the releative postitions of all asteroids in the vicinity of the earth. If you've ever played the classic video game 'Elite' then you won't have any trouble understanding the map.