Posted on 10/13/2017 10:58:04 AM PDT by Red Badger
Asteroid 2012 TC4 doesn't have a very memorable name, but it might leave quite an impression years from now.
The house-sized asteroid that just passed by Earth, almost as close as many satellites in orbit, will be back -- and a future visit might lead to it taking up permanent residency here.
On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, Asteroid 2012 TC4 safely passed by our planet at an altitude of 27,300 miles (44,000 kilometers), just a few thousand miles above the level of satellites in geosychronous orbit. That's nearly twice as close as when it passed us almost exactly five years ago, about a week after it was first discovered in October 2012.
The most recent models of the space rock's future path, which can be altered by Earth's gravity each time it makes a close pass, have ruled out the possibility that it will impact Earth when it makes another close call in 2050.
But the same can't be said for its visit in 2079.
"We know today that it will also not hit the Earth in the year 2050, but the close flyby in 2050 might deflect the asteroid such that it could hit the Earth in the year 2079," Rüdiger Jehn of the European Space Agency told AFP.
The odds of an impact 62 years from now are currently placed at about 1 in 750.
Fortunately, if 2012 TC4 does attempt to give us a violent cosmic body blow, it probably won't be the same kind of existential collision that did in the dinosaurs. In fact, it's likely smaller than the bolide that exploded when it hit the atmosphere over Russia in 2013, blowing out a bunch of windows in Chelyabinsk in the process.
It's actually space rocks like that one that probably pose the bigger risk, because it was never observed until it became a fireball in the sky that day. All the more reason to point more eyes and lenses toward the sky to find the 99 percent of asteroids in the solar system big enough to level a city that are believed to still be undiscovered.
That is a function of mass, speed and distance of impact.
That is, a 30 meter diameter asteroid is pretty massive, plus the further the deflector object hits it away from its target the more it is likely to change course.
Every time I read about asteroids, comets, or meteors I think of the stars falling from heaven in Revelation.
The Sixth Seal—Terror
12 I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. 14 The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they *said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
Even in the morning daylight it was dramatic. It looked closer than a jet and left a wider trail. About 1000 times bigger than a shooting star and I could actually make out a ball shape.
At the time I had no idea what it was and actually thought I would see an explosion in the distance at any second after it passed because it looked like it was going to hit earth.
I can't believe this didn't get more attention so that people could know when and where to watch the sky!
I'm so thrilled to have seen it but my 12 year old son who was with me and is a big astronomy buff missed it entirely because a tree was blocking his view.
He is pretty bummed.
There’s always next time!..................
Yup... And this one too from Luke
Luke 21:25-28
There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. “Then they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN A CLOUD with power and great glory. “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
I wonder if the poles will reverse. That’s a crazy time.
I keep hoping Jesus will return any day now, so that bills, etc. won’t matter anymore... with the depravity of this world, I cannot imagine Him being so patient as to not return already...
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