Posted on 12/12/2012 12:00:22 PM PST by LibWhacker
Spotted just two days ago, it came zipping toward us inside the moon's orbit
A newfound asteroid gave Earth a close shave early today, zipping between our planet and the moon just two days after astronomers first spotted it.
The near-Earth asteroid 2012 XE54, which was discovered Sunday, came within 140,000 miles (230,000 kilometers) of our planet at about 5 a.m. EST Tuesday, researchers said. For comparison, the moon orbits Earth at an average distance of 240,000 miles or so (386,000 km).
Astronomers estimate that 2012 XE54 is about 120 feet (36 meters) wide — big enough to cause substantial damage if it slams into Earth someday. An object of similar size flattened 800 square miles (2,000 square km) of forest when it exploded above Siberia's Podkamennaya Tunguska River in 1908.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
That was a good book, along with “Lucifer’s Hammer” by the same authors.
They had to cut back their hours to avoid obamacare...
It’s a very small asteroid.
We simply don’t have close to enough telescopes with enough power to detect all asteroids this size while they are months or years away.
Also, a special request for large splinter chunks to hit: Air Force 1 (while occupied by UnoWho in flight), the U.N. Building, the Federal Reserve building, FEMA headquarters, The EU headquarters in Brussels, Vlad Putin (while on his motorcycle), George Soros (in whatever rathole he hides), Kim Il-Young (while his diapers are being changed), Greece (to put them out of their misery), and, finally, a shower of baseball-sized lumps to hit various terrorist training camps around the world.
Is this too much to ask for Christmas?
yeah -thats the one
Yeah. I love Niven. I’ve read all his stuff. I love the Known Space short stories.
I was going to tell him, no it’s the other one, but decided why bother.
Worst case for this one - maximizing for density, velocity, and impact angle would result in a 1 mile diameter crater, very similar to Meteor Crater in Arizona.
Yes, that one
cloaking
Me too.
We would have to see Ben Affleck and listen to Aerosmith. I choose death.
“.....and preferably while both houses are in session.”
Now THAT is what I call bipartisan.... and in a good way.
If you are having trouble with asteroids there is always Preparation H..
Just so long as it hits DC
I'd like to see something substantiating that.
I strongly suspect this stuff whizzes by the earth all the time. We are probably only locating a percentage of the objects. The location is better now than in the past, but far from perfect. It’s still a small object, and pretty far away.
Sorry, gotta have a need to know, besides, it’s extremely technical.
It's pretty much an absolute 100% hard and fast rule that any article, blog, or post containing the words "planetary alignment" (much like anything containing the word "chemtrail") can be dismissed as worthless kook nonsense.
But have the Puppeteers bugged out yet? That’s the true sign of impending doom.
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