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Small Asteroid To Buzz Earth
ddelmonte writes in to tell us about a small near-earth object, discovered just 2 days ago, that is expected to pass within 64,000 km of our planet on March 2, 13:44 UT. NEO 2009 DD45 will be well inside the Moon's orbit and just under twice the altitude of geosynchronous satellites. According to Sky and Telescope, 2009 DD45's closest approach will be over the Pacific west of Tahiti, so observers in Australia, Japan, and perhaps Hawaii will have the best chance of spotting it with, say, an 8-in. telescope. Here's where you can generate an ephemeris of the object for your location. At closest approach NEO 2009 DD45 will be moving half a degree per minute and peaking around magnitude 10.5. It will be brighter than 13th magnitude for only a few hours.
(IANARS) There's simply no way that any space agency could prepare and launch a probe with less than three days notice, and likely no good way to pre-build one without knowing what size/speed asteroid we might be lucky enough to launch at.
I dunno . . . The Thunderbirds seem to be able to get anywhere they want to go, real fast. And Doctor Who just seems to be able to go where ever he damn well pleases, as well.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Unfortunately though, they also have the disadvantage of not being real.
Which is quite unfortunate, in reality.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Dude, if you can make a functional space craft that looks like an English Police box, I'll support your candidacy for head of Nasa.