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Small Asteroid To Pass Close To Earth Tomorrow
Matt_dk writes "A small asteroid will pass very close to Earth this Tuesday. Astronomers are still tracking the object, now designated as 2010 TD54, and various estimates say it should come within anywhere from 52,000 km (33,000 miles) to 64,000 km (40,000 miles) on October 12, with closest approach at approximately 11:25 UT."
In other news "retired Air Force officer, Stanley A. Fulham", whoever that guy might be, "predicts October 13, 2010 as the date for a massive UFO display over the world’s principal cities". ;-) Given the distance, can we really be sure it is an asteroid ?
http://www.disclose.tv/forum/october-13-2010-worldwide-ufo-display-t33304.html
Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
Please place Bruce Willis on standby.
I was kinda alarmed when I read the name "2010 T" which means it was discovered in the first half of October, 2010 (as opposed to discovered in the second half via time travel). And in fact TFA says it was discovered Oct 9.
TFA also says it's a pretty small asteroid only a few meters across, which is a pretty good excuse for not finding it sooner (and makes it Mostly Harmless), but still... More funding to asteroid finding/tracking pls thx.
The enemies of Democracy are
Nonsense. This was obviously a rock launched via Bug Plasma, an attack which fortunately will miss us. Join the Mobile Infantry and fight back before they succeed and destroy Buenos Aires!
The enemies of Democracy are
Geosync is only 26200 miles ... the uncertainty is almost large enough that it could hit a geosync satellite. If only they provided a std deviation or some other probability metric.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
It's not worrisome at all. It was not detected until then because it is very small and poses no threat even if it impacts. It's much easier to find larger objects. If an object large enough to cause a global catastrophe was on it's way toward us, we would have way more advance warning than 3 days with these kinds of efforts.
International Space Station: 229 miles
Geosynchronous orbit: 26,200 miles
Moon: 236,216 miles
In a sense, is far, is more than 3 whole earths side to side of distance. No, you will not hear a "zing!" when it passes over.
In the other hand, was discovered just 2 days ago. If a bigger one coming with a bit more accuracy is discovered now won't be anything that could be done, the plans that are actually to deal with possible impacts implies maybe years,
If an object large enough to cause a global catastrophe was on it's way toward us, we would have way more advance warning than 3 days with these kinds of efforts.
So we'd have plenty of time to get out of the way....whew!
My brain is overly lubricated
Would you like to know more?
I think what they mean to say is that the point on the Earth that the asteroid will be directly over at closest approach is in the vicinity of Singapore, not the asteroid itself.
We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
First, yes, because we know about it.
Second, because this is actually passing much closer than the lunar orbit and is thus not a daily event.
Third, because we do know about it, but also know it would most likely cause no damage, is information worth conveying.
Fourth, because some of us are quite interested in space and space objects and the field of asteroid tracking, especially as it relates to near earth objects.
Fifth, because there's a slim chance we could see it! TFA says you'd need a "moderate" sized telescope, which could mean a lot of things in different contexts. The JPL NEO tracker page gives an absolute planetary magnitude of 28, which if my math is right is 10.8 apparent magnitude ideally (i.e. appears 'full' from our perspective, is roughly spherical etc) Which would be within the capabilities of plenty of amateur telescopes.
Ultimately and obviously, how much this is newsworthy to you is subjective. But I think it's cool.
The enemies of Democracy are
Sure if all you care about is yourself.
Me, I think it's pretty rational to be alarmed by things with the highest probability of killing me or someone I love, or things with a very low probability of killing me, everyone I know and love, and possibly the entire human species.
In the latter category asteroid impacts would be less alarming than the Cuban Missile Crisis, but I think my level of concern is commensurate with that reality.
The enemies of Democracy are
Unisex showers, baby! Of course I'd like to know more.
Michael Reed, freelance tech writer.
A five-meter-sized near-Earth asteroid from the undiscovered population of about 30 million would be expected to pass daily within a lunar distance, and one might strike Earth’s atmosphere about every 2 years on average.
So really this happens all the time.
If an asteroid of the size of 2010 TD54 were to enter Earth's atmosphere, it would be expected to burn up high in the atmosphere and cause no damage to Earth's surface.
AND nobody will notice if it does decide to visit our planet. Maybe it will even hit one of those "dead satellites" and do its bit to clean up the junk in geosync for us.
I suspect this article is nothing but NASA's way of saying "moar $$$ pl0x!!!!!1"
No, there is no "-1 I'LL NEVER ADMIT BEING WRONG!!!" mod.
...but will not, alas, hit it.
Why is the post-apocalyptic paradise just out of reach? After 40 years of Cold War teasing, I was almost ready to give up hope, but asteroids still mock us. I cry at all the missed opportunities.
Advice: on VPS providers
Check out this video.
An animated overview of the Solar System showing the last 30 years of asteroid discoveries and their orbits. It's to scale, created from real data. Pretty awesome.
Alarmed is certainly an overreaction. However, that doesn't mean it should be ignored -- kind of like terrorism. Plus, unlike terrorism, taking precautions on the NEO threat doesn't interfere with civil rights, and hasn't seen significant overreaction on the part of the general public.
Detection programs cost tens of millions of dollars, and even a mitigation testbed for a modest sized asteroid is only around $500 million. These kinds of programs have scientific benefit as well (and costs are on par with other space science efforts,) so it has value beyond the NEO threat.
Additionally, the threat is not just from extinction-class asteroids, but smaller asteroids that can cause regional destruction. These are expected to occur on a much more regular basis (hundred-ish years). If something like Tunguska were to occur over a populated area, the material damage would be far greater than the cost of NEO programs, and that doesn't even include loss of life.