Hefty Asteroid to Sweep Near Earth. (Almost a half mile wide. Can be Seen w/Binoculars)

Sky and Telescope ^ | Roger W. Sinnott

[Jhoffa_]

Now can we tax it?

That's the question everyone wants answered..

[budwiesest]

LOL! Heck, I'd spend as much to preserve those Corona beer settings. Watch my pager fly!

[Joe Hadenuf]

Yes, if you know were to look, and you have very dark skies.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Remember, it will be reflecting the suns light. Otherwise, you would never be able to see an object that small.

[Pharmboy]

Joe--you obviously know more about this than me--but still: that light has to be pretty bright from 330,000 miles away with 50 mm binocs on a 1/2 mile object! I'm impressed...

[dougherty]

This was the lead story on the Art Bell program last night. Although we won't really have to worry about this thing hitting for several years, it still makes me nervous. And remember when Dems/Dims were laughing over the Star Wars program? Nitwits.

[ladyinred]

Please let it fall on the Clintons.

[rockfish59]

We don't want to get their HEMM I mean, asteroids in a bunch!
If Gort were prez he'd sign an executive order for 'NO MINING ON THE ASTEROIDS!'

[kancel]

Here is another article:

Astro News Briefs
By the Editors of Sky & Telescope

New Asteroid Threat
July 25, 2002 | Astronomers are paying especially close attention to a newly discovered asteroid, which they've calculated to have a higher probability of striking Earth than any known body. Designated 2002 NT7, the wayward object was first spotted on July 9th by the LINEAR telescope in New Mexico, so its orbit is still uncertain. Future observations — or its discovery on archived sky images — will refine the chance of a collision. But it's already clear that on Friday, February 1, 2019, this 2-kilometer-wide asteroid will pass quite close to our planet. According to NASA's orbital specialists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the impact probability is about 1 in 250,000, whereas Italian dynamicists put the odds nearer to 1 in 90,000. Both teams agree that the threat from 2002 NT7 warrants a 1 on the 1-to-10 Torino impact-hazard scale. Were it to actually strike, it would deliver the kinetic-energy equivalent of 12 to 14 million megatons of TNT, enough to decimate much (or most) of a continent.

___________________________________________________________

I wonder if it would be too much to ask that it strike the Middle East. Maybe God will take care of them for us!!

[kancel]

Oops- totally different asteroid. Hmmm it is interesting that so many threatening asterdoids have a chance to hit in a relatively close time frame.

I know this will probably put me in the tinfoil hat category but itsn't it odd that we have within the last few years had several movies about an asteroid colision for the first time in movie history (at least as far as I know) and then all of a sudden we find ourselves actually facing that possibility? Wonder if these are really "new" discoveries after all.

[skateman]

I do apologize for my previous comment. But do ease up yourself. My comment that I hoped the asteriod hit Southern California was a JOKE. Not meant to offend.

[skateman]

I would prefer it hit your house instead. Hopefully when your home.

I do apologize for my inappropriate comment. I was however reacting to your comment. I meant the asteroid comment as a joke only, not meant to offend. If I did so, well then I apologize for that as well

[teeman8r]

solar powered shorts

[bribriagain]

"Or better yet, maybe Steven Speilberg can spend the money he made from Deep Impact to fund such programs"

Or even better, let's shoot Spielberg and his ilk out of a large projectile cannon to destroy the object.

[AmericanInTokyo]

They the best way to view this thing, if/when it comes down, is to get far away from town, city lights, etc., somewhere out on an interstate, to get a good unobstructed view.....

[Hammerhead]

how such small objects can cause such massive worldwide devastation still remains beyond my comprehension....I just don't get it.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Little Boy. Fat Man. 1945.

[RightWhale]

how such small objects can cause such massive worldwide devastation

In the immediate area, no problem, right? Total blast, everything toast. But the atmosphere of the planet gets involved because the junk from the blast has to go somewhere. The atmosphere carries particulates from volcanic episodes for months and even that little changes the weather. Winter will be somewhat long and wet. Summer will be short and wet. Now scale it up, because a 1 mile asteroid impact is a lot more than just a typical volcano. There will be a winter so long there will be no summer, and it could last for some years until the atmosphere is clean enough that summer happens and plants can grow and animals can feed on them. Lots of starvation in the meantime, the whole food chain is severely disrupted.