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Small Asteroid To Pass Close To Earth Tomorrow

Posted by Soulskill on from the bruce-willis-alert-color-mauve dept.

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."

12 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. Fuuny coincidence? by ls671 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.
  2. Just in case... by kellyb9 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Please place Bruce Willis on standby.

    1. Re:Just in case... by maxume · · Score: 4, Funny

      Did you miss the part where the movie starred Bruce Willis?

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
  3. Not a lot of advance warning... by Chris+Burke · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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
    1. Re:Not a lot of advance warning... by GrumblyStuff · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Heh, yeah, I can see it now.

      "Why does the President want to spend money looking at the sky?! He should be looking at the bottom line!"

      "Is there something he doesn't want us to find on the ground?"

      "Look, the Earth is 75% water and only half of it would be facing bombardment. Add that up and we've got a negative 25% chance to be hit!"

      "Asteroid monitoring? What's the use in that?"
      Cue asteroid strike a la Bobby Jindal and volcano monitoring.

  4. Re:teh centauri are invading by Chris+Burke · · Score: 3, Funny

    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
  5. Geosync is only 26200 miles by vlm · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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
    1. Re:Geosync is only 26200 miles by kellyb9 · · Score: 3, Funny

      There is a lot of volume in space.

      Incorrect... there is no sound in space.

  6. Comparisons by pgn674 · · Score: 5, Informative

    International Space Station: 229 miles
    Geosynchronous orbit: 26,200 miles
    Moon: 236,216 miles

    1. Re:Comparisons by aarenz · · Score: 3, Informative

      Please read article, the distance is measured from the center of the earth. So it is only 28,000 miles from the surface, which is right in the gesynch range, based on size, composition and speed, it could vary more than 2,000 miles during its pass near our big old earth. Goodbye dish network, or maybe that sat phone uplink from midway island.

  7. Re:close? by gmuslera · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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,

  8. Re:Why is this news? by Chris+Burke · · Score: 4, Informative

    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