Asteroid blows past Earth in near miss ( video )

watts Up With That? ^ | May 29, 2012 | Anthony Watts

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From ChicoEr.com

Flying close enough to Earth that in astronomic terms one could feel the breeze as it passed, a small asteroid flashed by just after midnight today.

NASA reported the space rock, with the unimaginative name of 2012 KT42, was just 8,700 miles above the atmosphere when it went by.

While the asteroid’s approach is actually within the orbit’s geosynchronous satellites, it is not of the sort to inspire fears of global destruction.

NASA estimates the object is roughly 10 to 30 feet in diameter. It is still not tiny. The fireball that flashed over California earlier this year and dropped fragments of itself over the Sierra Nevada, was said to be abut the size of a mini-van.

From Spaceweather.com

SMALL ASTEROID BUZZES EARTH: Newly-discovered asteroid 2012 KT42 is flying past Earth today (May 29th) only ~14,000 km above the planet’s surface. This means 2012 KT42 will actually fly inside the Clark Belt of geosynchronous satellites. The 3- to 10-meter wide asteroid ranks # 6 on the top 20 list of closest-approachers to Earth. According to the asteroid’s orbit, there is no danger of a collision. Even if it did hit, this space rock is too small to cause significant damage. It would likely disintegrate almost entirely in the atmosphere, peppering the ground below with relatively small meteorites.

Flyby images: #1, #2.

[blam]

"...probably an extinction event."

Preppers be damned!

[Species8472]

You don't want a "gold rush" in your back yard. You'll find out what a swarm of human locusts looks like, and you'll get bupkis. Pretty much ruined John Sutter. <\i>

LOL! Been there, done that, and not a bad thing. My town here in southern Alaska was founded in the gold rush of 1896. We still have two operating mines.

And as far as that swarm of locusts goes, we already have them, 2500 at a time courtesy of the cruise ship industry! Good thing for us they have money to spend.

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks for that,, sure has a nice shape to it and its deep.

Here’s hoping the preservationists don’t destroy it saving it. ;-)

[LibWhacker]

So now we know a 30-foot rock can sneak up on us and not be seen until the last second. No surprise. But one question I’ve never seen answered is, how big is the largest rock (moving at, say, 30 mi/sec) which could sneak up on us and not be seen until it is too late? To avoid detection until the very last minute, a large rock would probably have to come in from the direction of the Sun and so be lost in the glare. Anyhoo... 300ft?... 3000ft?... One mile? The dinosaur in me is dying to know.

(Thanks for the ping!)

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Ernest. An ‘extra extra’ ping to the APoD list.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Ernest.

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[SunkenCiv]

In answer, any size (or dark material) that isn’t likely to be detected by optical telescopes; radioastronomy to detect near-Earth objects doesn’t (yet) cover the entire sky, which is a huge mistake IMHO.

The impactor that produced the 3/4 mile wide Meteor Crater was less than 80 feet in diameter.

The Tunguska object detonated before striking the ground (there’s been a recent renewal of interest in looking for metallic chunks embedded near ground zero) and knocked down many thousands of trees for miles in all directions, and was probably 100 feet in diameter (mostly ices).

[SunkenCiv]

Wow, interesting!

[bigheadfred]

They are all around us. A couple of more in a few days. Not nearly as close. But still. IAS!

NASA-NEO

Too many "close ones" the last week of May.

[NormsRevenge]

There is speculation way out there that we periodically pass thru belts of stuff .. or mysterious bodies shoot off stuff in our direction..

What’s to keep a couple of them playing a little cosmic carom pool and whupping up some major crust and mantle .. It is 2012 ... hmmm

[The Cajun]

Saw the best meteor in my 65 years a little less than a month ago.
Watched it for approx. 5 seconds and could actually see sparkling debris flaking off of it, never saw that before.
Still impressed with the sighting.

[Marine_Uncle]

As they approached earth, they realized who was residing in the White House and decided it best to just pass by.

[blam]

IAS

Astronomers Unravel A Mystery Of The Dark Ages

Undergraduates' work blames comet for 6th-century "nuclear winter" Scientists at Cardiff University, UK, believe they have discovered the cause of crop failures and summer frosts some 1,500 years ago – a comet colliding with Earth. The team has been studying evidence from tree rings, which suggests that the Earth underwent a series of very cold summers around 536-540 AD, indicating an effect rather like a nuclear winter.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks bhf.