NASA: An Asteroid Will Barely Avoid Slamming Into Earth Today

TBI ^ | 6-27-2011 | David Edwards, The Raw Story

[RichInOC]

I can’t believe it took me ten years after that movie came out, about the time Neil came out, to find out about Carl being nicknamed “Doogie Himmler”.

[Terry Mross]

My garden has already burned up. It’s difficult to walk to the car to go to the store. This is the hottest I’ve ever it seen it in Texas this early in the year. July and August is going to be rough.

[COBOL2Java]

Question for the next event: When scientists use the analogy of "bus-sized" to describe the size of a object, what kind of bus are the referring to?

VW bus?
School bus? (standard vs the short bus for the slow kids)
Trailways size bus?
The British, double decker type tour bus?
Indian bus, complete with 200 people hanging off the roof & sides?

Obama's bus?

[oh8eleven]

what kind of bus are the referring to?
Water logged and unused ...

[CodeToad]

God forbid the thing hits the Earth...the Muslims already worship one moon rock, imagine how they would treat this one!

[Secret Agent Man]

Asteroid Will Smash Into Earth Today: Women and Minorities Hardest Hit

[TigersEye]

This would be like the Tunguska Event in 1908 in Siberia if it were to strike earth...I think.

Not according to the article you posted.

"Asteroid 2011 MD measures about 10 meters. Stony asteroids less than 25 m would break up in Earth's atmosphere & not cause ground damage," NASA wrote on their Twitter page.

[dragnet2]

My garden has already burned up. It’s difficult to walk to the car to go to the store. This is the hottest I’ve ever it seen it in Texas this early in the year. July and August is going to be rough.

Dang!

And it's just started..

Hang in there.

[JaguarXKE]

It has an orbit similar to Earth's.

You'd never know it from the graphic:

[jonno]

No doubt.

I was merely to pointing out the sensationalism of: "an impact is possible when it makes the next pass" - not yet having the data.

[messierhunter]

Incorrect. Remember 2008 TC3? An amateur astronomer was even involved in observing it and establishing its orbit prior to impact. The communication between amateur and professional astronomers is very fast and open when it comes to asteroid discoveries, even potential impactors.

[RobinOfKingston]

My goodness!!! Isn’t there someone to whom we can send money???

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks gleeaikin. This tiny little thing ("about 10 meters") could make it through the atmosphere, if it were to be right on time to do it, and if it's a solid piece of rock. But it would be a tinier little thing by the time it hit the ground.

Asteroid 2011 MD [was discovered] on June 22. It has an orbit similar to Earth's.

There's a bunch of these, and PANSTARRS is looking for them. NASA's program has been to locate and identify the big stuff (km and up) but stuff much smaller than a km can do a lot of damage. The Tunguska object was perhaps as much as 100 meters across (estimates range as high as at least 1200 m, as low as 50 m, and this is mostly due to different density estimates), and exploded in an airburst several hundred feet before it hit the ground, knocking down trees for miles.

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[SunkenCiv]

Every meteorite in the Solar System sez, “I’d hit it!”

http://www.google.com/search?q=alabama+meteorite+hit+a+woman&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi

[Stentor]

so keep the IRA going for now?

Absolutely. Little Timmy tax cheat is going to need it to postpone hitting the debt limit. He's already "borrowed" from the federal employees Thrift Savings Plan.

[SunkenCiv]

Missed by 7500 miles (less than one Earth diameter)

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/0627/Asteroid-2011-MD-buzzes-Earth-nearer-than-some-satellites

[tomkat]

What a seriouly missed opportunity for the rocket boys to get some actual range time in for the one that won't miss . . .

just sayin'