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Small Asteroid On Collision Course With Earth

Posted by kdawson on from the big-kaboom dept.

musatov writes "There's talk on The Minor Planet Mailing List about a small asteroid approaching Earth with a 99.8% probability of colliding. The entrance to the Earth's atmosphere will take place October 7 at 0246 UTC (2:35 after this story goes live) over northern Sudan, releasing the energy of about a kiloton of TNT. The asteroid is assumed to be 3-4 meters in size; it is expected to burn up completely in the atmosphere, causing no harm. As a powerful bolide, it may put on quite a show in the sky. For those advanced enough in astronomy to observe, check the MPEC 2008-T50 and MPEC 2008-T64 circulars. NASA's JPL Small Body Database has a 3D orbit view. The story has been already picked up by CNN and NASA."

20 of 397 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Asteroid? Why not meteor? by tekrat · · Score: 5, Informative

    They become meteors *once* they start to interact with the Earth's atmosphere. Until that time, they are classified as space objects, and the names seem to change dependent upon size and approximate mass.

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  2. it's the end of the world and... by owlnation · · Score: 5, Funny

    Bankers everywhere rejoice!

  3. Re:Asteroid? Why not meteor? by sreid · · Score: 5, Informative

    You're right. The Royal Astronomical Society has proposed a new definition where a meteoroid is between 100 Âm and 10 m across.

  4. It's Pluto... by blue+l0g1c · · Score: 5, Funny

    and it wants revenge.

  5. Here's the NASA article by Bragador · · Score: 5, Informative

    Small Asteroid Predicted to Cause Brilliant Fireball over Northern Sudan

    A very small, few-meter sized asteroid, designated 2008 TC3, was found Monday morning by the Catalina Sky Survey from their observatory near Tucson Arizona. Preliminary orbital computations by the Minor Planet Center suggested an atmospheric entry of this object within a day of discovery. JPL confirmed that an atmospheric impact will very likely occur during early morning twilight over northern Sudan, north-eastern Africa, at 2:46 UT Tuesday morning. The fireball, which could be brilliant, will travel west to east (from azimuth = 281 degrees) at a relative atmospheric impact velocity of 12.8 km/s and arrive at a very low angle (19 degrees) to the local horizon. It is very unlikely that any sizable fragments will survive passage through the Earth's atmosphere.

    Objects of this size would be expected to enter the Earth's atmosphere every few months on average but this is the first time such an event has been predicted ahead of time.

    1. Re:Here's the NASA article by fm6 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Objects of this size would be expected to enter the Earth's atmosphere every few months on average but this is the first time such an event has been predicted ahead of time.

      This detail got left out of the story summary, making this sound like a bigger deal than it actually is. This is a routine, mundane event — only the prediction is newsworthy.

    2. Re:Here's the NASA article by Jonathan+McDowell · · Score: 5, Interesting

      This detail got left out of the story summary, making this sound like a bigger deal than it actually is. This is a routine, mundane event — only the prediction is newsworthy.

      What this really means is that the new surveys are looking at more of the sky more frequently and deeper (seeing fainter objects), so now we are starting to catch things hitting the Earth that would have been missed in the past.

      I wouldn't say this is a mundane event though, this is going to be bigger than the majority of fireballs that get seen. Yes, every few months, but most are over uninhabited areas and don't get seen. And they are not tracked in advance - so we'll get to see how big a fireball you get for a body whose size we have a rough idea of (a few meters across).

      For technical updates, see
      http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/mpec/RecentMPECs.html

  6. Re:Jesus my chest. by khendron · · Score: 5, Funny

    The next big one could come any time and kill us all. If it was really the end of the world would they let us know?

    I sure that Slashdot would report it at least twice.

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  7. Re:Good News Everyone... by amRadioHed · · Score: 5, Funny

    Please can we send Tom Cruise instead??

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  8. Re:Asteroid? Why not meteor? by SEWilco · · Score: 5, Funny

    If a comet is on the ground, we call it a glacier.

  9. Re:Asteroid? Why not meteor? by freeabelian · · Score: 5, Informative

    "A very small, few-meter sized asteroid, designated 2008 TC3..." "It is very unlikely that any sizable fragments will survive passage through the Earth's atmosphere..." Let's pretend that "few-meter-sized" means 3m in diameter, that the space rock is perfectly spherical and will hit the Earth's surface in one piece. Mass of asteroid = density*volume = (3000kg/m^3)*(4*pi*(1.5m)^2/3) = 28274.334 kg (Density data from an eyeball-average of table in http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/asteroid_masses) If it hits the surface at 12800m/s, then: Kinetic energy = .5*mv^2 = 2316233431638.683 J ~ 2316 gigajoules 1 ton TNT = 4.184GJ (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joule), so the meteorite impact is roughly 553.6 tons of TNT. Caveat emptor: many, many approximations.

  10. Re:Asteroid? Why not meteor? by CptNerd · · Score: 5, Funny

    A horrible violation of the laws of God and Man...

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  11. Re:Asteroid? Why not meteor? by sukotto · · Score: 5, Funny

    So, a Dwarf Asteroid then?

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  12. Re:Asteroid? Why not meteor? by sreid · · Score: 5, Funny

    size challenged asteroid

  13. Re:Cost! by DavidD_CA · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm playing on the Super Nintendo.

    It's called METEO, you insenstive clod!

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    -David
  14. Abandon hope all yee who live! by supernova_hq · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh crap, the fate of the earth depends on the accuracy of a slashdot summary?!?

  15. Re:Asteroid? Why not meteor? by fuego451 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Asteroid, meteoroid or hemorrhoid; what does it matter? They're all a pain in the ass.

  16. This sort of impact happens once a month. by SETIGuy · · Score: 5, Informative

    A kiloton scale impact is a once a month thing. The only interesting thing about this collision is that we detected the object in advance. All the other ones have hit without warning. A 20 kiloton impact is a once a year event. It's only when you get to 10 megaton events that you have to worry about any effects on the ground, (apart from people looking at the bolide being temporarily or permanently blinded).

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  17. Re:Scary... by amRadioHed · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well it was only two hours by the time I posted that, but truth be told I'm out a microwave right now. I make my popcorn by putting the bag on top of my wireless router and firing up a bittorent.

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    We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
  18. Size doesn't matter by Macka · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... it's what it does on entry that counts!