Near-miss from a city-killer asteroid this week

[Werthead]

Earth just had it's closest near-miss from an asteroid for a while. On Thursday an asteroid estimated at between 50 and 120 metres in diameter passed Earth at around 70,000 kilometers, or approximately one-fifth the distance from Earth to the Moon. It came in from the Sun and was completely missed by astronomers, who only picked it up a few hours before the closest approach. The asteroid, which is just below the size threshold the US government has directed NASA to search for, was large enough to survive atmospheric entry. If if had hit the ground or airburst, it would have likely exploded with the force of ~15 megatons (or about 750 times the power of the Nagasaki nuke), which puts it firmly in the "city-killer" category. Most likely it wouldn't have directly hit a city and would have most likely hit the ocean, but in that case there would have been significant tsunami damage.

But it didn't, so that's fun.

In October we also get the first flyby from Asteroid FT3. FT3 is a 340 meter asteroid, about twice the size of the one that just missed us, but it is travelling much, much faster. If it hit us, its impact detonation would be equivalent to 2,700 megatons which is vastly more than the most powerful nuclear bomb ever detonated. That's not so much a city-killer as a continent-wrecker. Fortunately it doesn't look likely to hit us in October (it will currently miss us by 417,000km), but there is an issue in that FT3's orbit means it will pass close to Earth 165 times between 2019 and 2116. One any one of those approaches, an unexpected shift in orbit could put it on an impactor trajectory with us (or send it careening out of the inner Solar system, which would be preferable). NASA is currently tracking FT3's trajectory very closely and 2030 seems to be the closest approach, although it would still be 130,000km away (again, assuming no orbital deviation).

[Fragile Bird]

Damn, why did I spend so much money on a new roof? Shoulda gone to the casino!

[A True Kaniggit]

Bloody arachnids.

They won’t stop until they actually start a war. 

[DMC]

So we're all agree, this happens again we send Bruce Willis up there, right?  And Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.  And Liv Tyler.  And certainly her father.  And, of course, Michael Bay as an apologetic sacrifice to the gods.

[Darth Richard II]

Can we send Zack Snyder and Terry Goodkind?

[DMC]

Oh, there's so so many we could send.  Like that old Simpsons episode where they send all the annoying celebrities into the sun.

[Tears of Lys]

My, we are fragile, aren't we.  Makes one stop and ponder. 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

And not a thing we can do to stop one of these fast movers.  All we can do is hope they continue to miss for the forseeable future.

[Derfel Cadarn]

Time to find the White Materia and pray to the Lifestream!

[A True Kaniggit]

5 minutes ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Time to find the White Materia and pray to the Lifestream!

Aerith..... 

[Jace, Extat]

1 hour ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

And not a thing we can do to stop one of these fast movers.  All we can do is hope they continue to miss for the forseeable future.

That's what you think because you hate America. Daddy Donald knows how to protect us!

[A True Kaniggit]

10 minutes ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

That's what you think because you hate America. Daddy Donald knows how to protect us!

Where da fuq you been?

It actually came down to me to make the Starship Troopers reference 14 hours ago. I have total faith yours would've been magnitudes more amusing, and the internet would've been that much richer.

Get back on the ball Jace, Basilissa.

 

Edit: Though yes, I agree. Once Daddy Donald gets that Space Wall built, no way them Illegal Aliens will settle on our planet Earth.

[Jace, Extat]

8 minutes ago, A True Kaniggit said:

Where da fuq you been?

It actually came down to me to make the Star Troopers reference 14 hours ago. I have total faith yours would've been magnitudes more amusing, and the internet would've been that much richer.

Get back on the ball Jace, Basilissa.

I woulda gone with:

--------

We must meet the threat with our valor, our blood, indeed with our very lives. To ensure that HUMAN CIVIlization.  Not INSECT dominates this galaxy now... And ALWAYS! 

*Music swells, applause*

------

Would you like to know more?

[Free Northman Reborn]

Your inside jokes are not amusing, True Kana Whatever and Jace whoever. Go find a room.

As for the asteroid threat - it is real. But give SpaceX a decade and they will bring the cost/kg to orbit down below $100, and with that real in in-space mitigation measures will become a real prospect.

[A True Kaniggit]

20 minutes ago, Free Northman Reborn said:

Your inside jokes are not amusing,

Eh, I chuckled  giggled. Okay I'll be honest, my laugh is, and always has been, more of a giggle.

You just gotta learn enough material to get the references.

 

Edit: See? Case in point. Reading the post below, if your knowledgeable enough to get the reference, then that's funny.

[Jace, Extat]

3 minutes ago, Free Northman Reborn said:

Your inside jokes are not amusing, True Kana Whatever and Jace whoever. Go find a room.

As for the asteroid threat - it is real. But give SpaceX a decade and they will bring the cost/kg to orbit down below $100, and with that real in in-space mitigation measures will become a real prospect.

I find your lack of humor disturbing.

[Safiya]

1 hour ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

And not a thing we can do to stop one of these fast movers.  All we can do is hope they continue to miss for the forseeable future.

We've catalogued hundreds of millions of NEOs; Near Earth Objects are defined as being within 150 million kilometers (93 million miles) of Earth. The estimated number of NEOs approximately one kilometer in diameter is 921±20.

Those over 140 m across is 27,100±2,200, and those 40 m (130 ft) in diameter is estimated at about 840,000±23,000. 

Then those larger than 3.5 m (11 ft)) is estimated at about 400±100 million. 

It's the small ones I'm truly concerned about, imagine a small NEO than the size the US government has directed NASA to look for, not being identified as an asteroid and it hits a heavily populated area of a nuclear power and triggers a nuclear war?

That we became extinct because of a 10 m lump of space rock. 

 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

2 minutes ago, Safiya said:

We've catalogued hundreds of millions of NEOs; Near Earth Objects are defined as being within 150 million kilometers (93 million miles) of Earth. The estimated number of NEOs approximately one kilometer in diameter is 921±20.

Those over 140 m across is 27,100±2,200, and those 40 m (130 ft) in diameter is estimated at about 840,000±23,000. 

Then those larger than 3.5 m (11 ft)) is estimated at about 400±100 million. 

It's the small ones I'm truly concerned about, imagine a small NEO than the size the US government has directed NASA to look for, not being identified as an asteroid and it hits a heavily populated area of a nuclear power and triggers a nuclear war?

That we became extinct because of a 10 m lump of space rock. 

 

Yes.  And cataloguing them without a mechanism for dealing with them doesn’t make much sense?

[lacuna]

1. Post-scarcity.

2. Backup for Earth.

 

Globalism is the only way to get this. Fuck the luddites.

Am drunk, disregard. 

[A True Kaniggit]

3 minutes ago, lacuna said:

1. Post-scarcity.

2. Backup for Earth.

3. Profit!

Globalism is the only way to get this. Fuck the luddites.

Am drunk, disregard. 

You can thank me for the improvement once you're rich.