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Asteroid Explodes Over Sudan

Posted by timothy on from the did-it-make-a-noise dept.

radioweather writes "A recently discovered Apollo Asteroid, 2008 TC3, exploded over Sudan at about 1046 EDT on October 7, 2008, according to astronomer Tim Spahr of Harvard University 2008 TC3 was discovered on Monday by an observer at the Mt Lemmon Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. 2008 TC3 is notable in that it is the first Asteroid of its size that was identified before impact and tracking it put the entire Spaceguard tracking system to an extreme test. TC3 is estimated to be only two to five meters in diameter but exploded with the force of a one kiloton of explosive power." We mentioned the asteroid last on Monday, when it was only at a 99.8 percent chance of colliding with Earth.

8 of 114 comments (clear)

  1. 99.8 chance of what?! by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 2, Insightful

    We mentioned the asteroid last on Monday, when it was only at a 99.8 percent chance of colliding with Earth.

    [pedantic] you mean a 99.8 chance of colliding with Earth's atmosphere. [/pedantic]
    From Slashdot's previous summary:

    The asteroid is assumed to be 3-4 meters in size; it is expected to burn up completely in the atmosphere, causing no harm

    ...so don't go running underground just yet, kids.

    1. Re:99.8 chance of what?! by Shotgun · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Anyone know how big a rock needs to start off to survive the passage thru the atmosphere and have any part of itself hit the ground??

      Size doesn't matter (thank you. thank you. Tip your waitress). No, really. It matters, it just isn't "all" that matters. Relative velocity is just as important. If the body sneaks up on us from behind, it could actually have a relatively low differential velocity. The nickel-iron sample you found would probably fit in that category, and it slowed to terminal velocity before being burned up.

      An extremely large body coming directly at us for a head-on collision probably wouldn't make it to the ground (and wouldn't have to in order to take out a large percentage of life in our little gravity well hole.)

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
  2. Re:Explode over or on? by ivan256 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Over.

    It completely burned up miles above the surface. That quote is like saying "Drakin020 had a birthday party with cake! No deaths have been reported yet." In other words, it's purely sensationalism. Though it is a true statement, no deaths will *ever* be reported due to this event, because none occurred.

  3. Why is this news? by shaitand · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I was under the impression that these sort of tiny asteroids burned up in our atmosphere all the time and were observed as shooting stars.

  4. Re:Picture of explosion? by Muad'Dave · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Wouldn't that be "Pics or it [ did & didn't ] happen."?

    --
    Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
  5. Alarmism Amok! by Chysn · · Score: 2, Insightful

    From TFA:

    "UPDATE: Please note that the use of an alarmist headline and imagery to increase the casual reader's desire to look at the entire article was an intentional parody."

    CNN should hard-code that into their website's header.

    --
    --I'm so big, my sig has its own sig.
    -- See?
  6. Re:Finally.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Yes, it was a bit touch and go there while the US, China and Russia were falling over themselves looking for stuff to veto to prevent anything from getting done.

    Exercise for the reader: count the number of vetoes by nation and see just -why- the UN is "doing nothing"

  7. Re:They Are in Our Prayers by mweather · · Score: 2, Insightful

    There is plenty to buy, from AKs to RPGs. I know I'd be in debt if I had access to the fire power they do.