Two asteroids to pass close to Earth on Wednesday

[Gerald]

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...-on-wednesday/


Note:September 7th, 2010

[SteamWake]

Someday one of these 'small' asteroids arent going to miss and there isnt a damn thing they can do about it.

[kranz]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

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]

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.

[Oberon]

That's pretty damn close.

[Jimbuna]

A bit too close for comfort....where's Bruce Willis these days?

[Dowly]

I see potential in this thread... Yubba, any theories what this could've been?

[Oberon]

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).

[Gerald]

[Oberon]

Now there's a thought!

[Dowly]

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]

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.

[Gerald]

I recently read that it passes around 50 million items past the Earth, every day....

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Oberon

Now there's a thought!

Originally Posted by Dowly

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?)

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Bilge_Rat

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/sciencetechnolo...roduction.html