View Full Version : Two asteroids to pass close to Earth on Wednesday
Two small asteroids in unrelated orbits will pass within the moon's distance of the Earth on Wednesday, according to NASA.
It's an unusual event that shows the need for closer monitoring of near space for Earth-threatening encounters, a scientist with the program said.
The objects don't pose a threat to Earth, and they will not be visible to the naked eye, said Donald Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near Earth Program, which tracks potentially hazardous asteroids and comets within 28 million miles of Earth.
The objects will visible from Earth as tiny specks of light with the help of moderate-sized amateur telescopes, he said.
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/07/two-asteroids-to-pass-close-to-earth-on-wednesday/
Note:September 7th, 2010
SteamWake
09-08-10, 10:00 AM
Someday one of these 'small' asteroids arent going to miss and there isnt a damn thing they can do about it.
Someday one of these 'small' asteroids arent going to miss and there isnt a damn thing they can do about it.
don't you know that Armageddon was based on a real story?
Bilge_Rat
09-08-10, 10:09 AM
yes, only a matter of time, lots of rocks out there.
The extinction of Dinosaurs was, according to one theory, caused by an asteroid strike which changed the earth's climate.
and let's not forget the 1908 Tunguska impact when a 20 meter asteroid struck a siberian forest incinerating tress in a 9 mile radius and knocking them down in a 25 mile radius.
That's pretty damn close. :hmmm:
Jimbuna
09-08-10, 10:36 AM
A bit too close for comfort....where's Bruce Willis these days?
I see potential in this thread... Yubba, any theories what this could've been? :88)
:har: Dowly, bad ferret.
Anyway, just a quick read up, chances are they'd break up or explode on entry anyway, even if they were made of iron (although an iron asteroid of that size would most likely create quite the clusterbomb of fragments after it exploded).
Now there's a thought! :yeah:
:hmmm:
Soooo, Yubba, if it would fall on Iran's nuclear plant, you think it would be some freak, but quite welcome, accident or something else?
(whaaaat?)
Bilge_Rat
09-08-10, 11:40 AM
Don't forget asteroids impact the earth every day, but most are too small and burn up in the atmosphere, creating the "shooting stars" you see at night.
I recently read that it passes around 50 million items past the Earth, every day....
Jimbuna
09-08-10, 02:17 PM
Now there's a thought! :yeah:
:hmmm:
Soooo, Yubba, if it would fall on Iran's nuclear plant, you think it would be some freak, but quite welcome, accident or something else?
(whaaaat?)
:hmmm::yep::03:
Don't forget asteroids impact the earth every day, but most are too small and burn up in the atmosphere, creating the "shooting stars" you see at night.
And snowballs:
Snowballs Entering The Earth's Atmosphere?
News story originally written on June 20, 1997
The Polar spacecraft has just found snowballs in space. We usually think of snowballs being in our backyard during wintertime, but these snowballs are flying into the Earth's atmosphere.
These snowballs can be as large as a small house! Can you imagine trying to throw a snowball that big? They are not dangerous to humans on Earth, because the snowballs break apart while they are still very far away from us. These snowballs are entering the atmosphere at a rate of 5-30 snowballs per minute, or thousands of snowballs in a given day. That's more snowballs than you could make even during a long winter day!
http://www.open2.net/sciencetechnologynature/planetsbeyond/comets/comet_introduction.html
TLAM Strike
09-08-10, 06:11 PM
Someday one of these 'small' asteroids arent going to miss and there isnt a damn thing they can do about it.
There are many things we can do about it! The primary one is to locate and chart them all before they hit so we can redirect them.
Redirecting them is easy and can be done with current technology.
The easy way requires a some time before impact (like years) just send a spacecraft up and have it fly next to the asteroid. The gravitational field of the spacecraft tugs at the asteroid slowly pulling it off course.
The harder way is to put a Mylar solar sail on the asteroid and have the solar wind push it out of the way. Downside is that it only works well close to the sun.
The easy and quick way is to turn the asteroid in to a big unmanned Orion drive ship. Send up a bunch of nuclear bombs and detonate them one at a time every minute or so near the surface using the force of each explosion to push the asteroid. With sufficiently big bombs a decent sized rock could be redirected in the space of days or weeks.
There are many things we can do about it! The primary one is to locate and chart them all before they hit so we can redirect them.
Redirecting them is easy and can be done with current technology.
The easy way requires a some time before impact (like years) just send a spacecraft up and have it fly next to the asteroid. The gravitational field of the spacecraft tugs at the asteroid slowly pulling it off course.
The harder way is to put a Mylar solar sail on the asteroid and have the solar wind push it out of the way. Downside is that it only works well close to the sun.
The easy and quick way is to turn the asteroid in to a big unmanned Orion drive ship. Send up a bunch of nuclear bombs and detonate them one at a time every minute or so near the surface using the force of each explosion to push the asteroid. With sufficiently big bombs a decent sized rock could be redirected in the space of days or weeks. assuming it is in clear view of course, :yep:
TLAM Strike
09-08-10, 07:43 PM
Have you been out and looked at the sky, assuming it is in clear view of course, :yep:
Every night its clear. ;)
Last Monday the Pleiades's looked very nice in my binoculars. :DL
But for hunting Asteroids well there ain't no stealth in space. (http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3w.html)
This deals with combat but its applicable to searching for any hard to find target...
A full spherical sky search is 41,000 square degrees. A wide angle lens will cover about 100 square degrees (a typical SLR personal camera is about 1 square degree); you'll want overlap, so call it 480 exposures for a full sky search, with each exposure taking about 350 megapixels.
Estimated exposure time is about 30 seconds per 100 square degrees of sky looking for a magnitude 12 object (which is roughly what the drive I spec'd out earlier would be). So, 480 / 2 is 240 minutes, or about 4 HOURS for a complete sky survey. This will require signal processing of about 150 gigapizels per two hours, and take a terabyte of storage per sweep.
That sounds like a lot, but...
Assuming 1280x1024 resolution, playing an MMO at 60 frames per second...78,643,200 = 78 megapixels per second. Multiply by 14400 seconds for 4 hours, and you're in the realm of 1 terapixel per sky sweep Now, digital image comparison is in some ways harder, some ways easier than a 3-D gaming environment. We'll say it's about 8x as difficult - that means playing World of Warcraft on a gaming system for four hours is about comparable to 75 gigapixels of full sky search. So not quite current hardware, but probably a computer generation (2 years) away. Making it radiation hardened to work in space, and built to government procurement specs, maybe 8-10 years away.
I can buy terabyte hard drive arrays now.
BTW Magnitude 12 = the brightness of a moon or largeish asteroid...
Every night its clear. ;)
Last Monday the Pleiades's looked very nice in my binoculars. :DL
But for hunting Asteroids well there ain't no stealth in space. (http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3w.html)
This deals with combat but its applicable to searching for any hard to find target...
BTW Magnitude 12 = the brightness of a moon or largeish asteroid... btw,nice site
what do you think of SETI, it is an opportunity :hmmm:
TLAM Strike
09-08-10, 08:12 PM
what do you think of SETI, it is an opportunity :hmmm: Well I analyze data for them with my screen saver.
Doesn't hurt to listen for a signal. Or the lack of a signal. (http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2010/02/image-of-the-day-the-cygnus-bubble-natural-or-artificial-object.html)
Well I analyze data for them with my screen saver.
Doesn't hurt to listen for a signal. Or the lack of a signal. (http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2010/02/image-of-the-day-the-cygnus-bubble-natural-or-artificial-object.html) but my eyes were about to fall out, and indefinitely as there were,
a rather interesting experience even if there was any action, directly
darius359au
09-08-10, 09:02 PM
Not Dinosaur killer sized ,but if someone's missed a decimal place working out the orbits and one of them doesn't miss ,there'll be a hell of a bang and a really cool light show at least :03::D
Jimbuna
09-09-10, 05:25 AM
Not Dinosaur killer sized ,but if someone's missed a decimal place working out the orbits and one of them doesn't miss ,there'll be a hell of a bang and a really cool light show at least :03::D
Amen http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/9425/praydl5rp5.gif
Amen http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/9425/praydl5rp5.gif it is good that you pray for us, :yep:
Jimbuna
09-09-10, 03:18 PM
it is good that you pray for us, :yep:
I was praying for me...first :DL
I was praying for me...first :DL ego tripped.... :hmmm:
Quick to the shelters, dont panic; run ruuun now!
Platapus
09-09-10, 08:16 PM
I got one word to say on this issue
Triffids.
:yep:
TLAM Strike
09-09-10, 08:35 PM
I got one word to say on this issue
Triffids.
:yep:
I'm sure the DoD has some canisters of Agent Orange laying around in a bunker somewhere to deal with them...
:hmmm:
We're all gonna die a horrible death!!:o:eek:
I'm sure the DoD has some canisters of Agent Orange laying around in a bunker somewhere to deal with them...
:hmmm:
http://imgur.com/oOaTu.jpg
:roll:
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