Story Submitted by Mike Bromley
ASTEROID FLYBY: – Asteroid will pass 12, 000 Km (7,500 miles) from Earth
Newly-discovered asteroid 2011 MD will pass only 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles) above Earth’s surface on Monday June 27 at about 9:30 a.m. EDT. NASA analysts say there is no chance the space rock will strike Earth. Nevertheless, the encounter is so close that Earth’s gravity will sharply alter the asteroid’s trajectory.
At closest approach, 2011 MD will pass in broad daylight over the southern Atlantic Ocean near the coast of Antarctica. As the asteroid recedes from Earth, it will pass through the zone of geosynchronous satellites. The chances of a collision with a satellite or manmade space junk are extremely small, albeit not zero.
Judging from the brightness of the asteroid, it measures only 5 to 20 meters in diameter. According to JPL’s Near Earth Object Program office, one would expect an object of this size to come this close to Earth about every 6 years on average. For a brief time, it will be bright enough to be seen even with a medium-sized backyard telescope.
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news172.html
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Earth’s diameter is 7926.41 miles or 12756.32 km.
So, this asteroid is far too close for comfort.
now imagine it’d been 10 times larger in all directions and 12000 km to the left. Do you think the IPCC would have released a statement about the worry of the increase in CO2 after the impact.
What’s really concerning is the lack of warning time. How much more for a bigger one?
Reminds me of Mike Flynn’s “Firestar” quadrilogy. Well worth reading IMHO as is all of Flynn’s SF.
“…For a brief time, it will be bright enough to be seen even with a medium-sized backyard telescope…”
Umm…yes, but it looks as if you would have to put your telescope on the South Pole in order to see it…..
At 5-20 metres in diameter, this would ablate in the upper atmosphere to (most likely) a shower of pebbles with a few % of the original mass, if that. What this really is, is a testament to the robotic surveys now searching the skies for NEOs! For an idea of the effects of such a body striking the Earth, see 2008 TC3’s encounter with Sudan, an impactor which (for the first time) was spotted and tracked prior to impact:
http://www.planetary.org/news/2009/0326_Asteroid_Tracked_in_Space_Its_Remains.html
If it’s less than 10m in diameter (which they’re saying it could be), it’s in the meteoroid class:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteoroid
Worrisome? Yawn
Nuke it now! The Precautionary Principle demands it. It could swerve and smash some pristine woodlands, or tug on the Earth and stop it in mid-orbit, causing it to fall into the Sun. The chances are minuscule, but The Precautionary Principle doesn’t care; no matter the expense, no matter how trivial the risk, it must be averted!
Oh, never mind …
If you splice the “Moon’s orbit edge on” at the left, together with this Asteroid’s approach trajectory, this is more incontravertable proof that Meltdown Mann was right all along!
\sarc.
Its much smaller than the one I have seen passing through the Earth’s atmosphere at midnight which distended three fingers at arms length. Wreathed in ruddy orange flame its surface features – ridges and hollows – were clearly visible. It had some rotation and was completely silent implying a height well in excess of 25 miles as there was no sonic boom.
Problem is I’ve seen it twice now. Now that is more serious than global warming
If anyone would like to read a fuller account of this it can be found as a comment on the Sign Of The Times website as a reader comment below the main article:
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/174013
Further, if WUWT would like to publish a digital full colour drawing of the second sighting which I think is a very good representation please email me. Then be afraid, be very afraid.
Wow how fascinating!
Let us hope & pray that the same people who have calculated the trajectory of this little fellow aren’t relying on a computer model used to do climate predictions!!!!!!!!!!!! Back of a fag packet with a 2B pencil would be more reliable IMHO. 🙂 BTW fag is UK slang for cigarette & nothing else!!
Well this is a bit of an anti-climax!
Surely more worth the effort of reporting if it was the size of Mount Everest………..
What kind of damage could this inflict if it, say, hit Al goreys largest beachfront, sea-level property? Would he hear it from the bottom of the garden? Could the event be ascribed to AGW?
I’m just asking.
That’s nice. Just to be sure, at least this big an asteroid comes this close to the Earth every 6 years or so, the page says. Those 10-meter objects would probably burn in the atmosphere if they wanted to hit us.
12,000Km is very close by astronomical standards. I hope, for once, NASA are right about its trajectory.
It’s only a matter of time before the Earth gets whacked by one of those chunks of rock. Then we’ll see some real climate change.
For some reason, Chicxulub has a great deal more to fear in terms of paleo-climatology than Carbon Dioxide levels well south of say, the Devonian Period.
More worrisome? I don’t generally worry about things over which I cannot change. If I did it would be hard to think about anything other than dying and even then there wouldn’t much time spent thinking about dying from an asteroid strike, supervolcano eruption, or things like that. Maybe you need to say the serenity prayer a few times. Repeat after me.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.
For a brief time, it will be bright enough to be seen even with a medium-sized backyard telescope.
Yikes! Global warming from the reflection. Natural geoengineering.
It’s worse than we thought!
It looks like a hockey stick.
Who made this discovery?
Its good to compare this danger with the CO2 global warming scare.
If anyone wanted to check out the evidence(data and calculations)
JPL’s Near Earth Object Program office would be only to happy to supply evidence.
Compare Michael Mann and Phil Jones reaction to such a request.
Does that in itself not tell you something?
If the asteroid is metallic, a 20 m diameter impact could ruin your day. You’re talking something near the Meteor Crater impactor size then.
Jeff
No worries…
Even at 20m it would ablate when it hit Earth’s outer atmosphere even if in line for a direct hit. However, I suspect the orbital calculations are well off and it will pass us much higher. Will be interesting to see what JPL admit to from the post event tracking system???
I just hope the UK Met Office don’t try and model the possible outcomes or we’ll probably have to close earth down for 3 days…
10 meter in diameter, you could be unlucky and be hit by some leftovers after the meteorite breaks up at 20-15 km above ground. In fact the journey to the impact site poses a much greater risk, especially the rides by car from and to the different airports.
It’s not worrying at all. There’s not enough time for the Revenue / Tax office to think up a plausible way to blame us and send a tax bill.