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2010 AL30, Asteroid Or Space Junk, To Pay a Close Visit
astroengine writes "A near-Earth object that could be manmade has just been discovered hurtling toward us. On Wednesday (Jan. 13), an object called 2010 AL30 will fly by Earth at a distance of just 130,000 km (80,000 miles). That's only one-third of the way from here to the moon, i.e. very close. It will miss us, and if it did hit us, it wouldn't do any damage anyway, but I managed to pick up on some chatter between planetary scientists and found out that the 'asteroid,' or whatever it is, gives us a new standard: a 10-meter-wide asteroid can be detected two days before it potentially hits Earth. A pretty useful warning if you ask me."
Not much of a sodding warning. Can you stock up & get to high ground/underground in two days?
No, but you don't need to. For a 10m asteroid impact the damage would be localized (a Tunguska or Hiroshima sized event), all you need to do is get out of the way.
More serious impact hazards would come from larger asteroids which are more likely to be discovered as hazards to the Earth farther in advance (or at least one hopes).
My guess is that schtuff coming from behind the sun mostly tends to fall either into the sun, or be wildly accelerated away in a hyperbole. So the 'blind spot' is likely a rather 'safe spot'.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Or, in somewhat more technical terms, the fact that they suspect it's manmade suggests it has a very high albedo, which would make it much easier to find.
Unlikely! Gaia will not be launched until 2012.
Please remain calm, there is no reason to pani... wait, where are you all going?
There was a turtle by the name of Burt, and Burt the turtle was very alert...
It's not thought to be "space junk" any more: it was thought it might be an old booster segment but apparently based on its path there's no rocket launch that it could've come from.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
The subject line is not where your message should begin.
The box contains nothing.
Nothing has more mass than the entire universe
Therefore, the box has more mass than the rock.