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2017 VR12: Asteroid That Could Be Bigger Than Empire State Building Is About to Pass by Earth
newspeak ^ | 3/2/18 at 7:14 | Katherine Hignett On

Posted on 03/02/2018 3:24:26 PM PST by BenLurkin

An asteroid up to 1600ft in diameter is set to fly by Earth in the early hours of March 7. Named “2017 VR12”, NASA has called the object “potentially hazardous.”

But don’t worry—the space rock shouldn’t get closer than 900,000 miles from Earth. That’s far enough to stay safe, and maybe even close enough to watch on a home telescope.

Larger than the Empire State Building?

It is difficult to work out an asteroid’s size at great distance, but we can estimate. “The asteroid is a mere point of light in our telescopes: we cannot resolve its size that way,” Paul Chodas, manager of the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told Newsweek.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy
KEYWORDS: 2017vr12; asteroid; catastrophism
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1 posted on 03/02/2018 3:24:26 PM PST by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

Niburu


2 posted on 03/02/2018 3:28:08 PM PST by Seruzawa (TANSTAAFL!)
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To: BenLurkin

I thought it was going say it would hit the Empire State Building. Darn.


3 posted on 03/02/2018 3:30:02 PM PST by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: Seruzawa

or

It could not be.


4 posted on 03/02/2018 3:32:14 PM PST by Eddie01
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To: BenLurkin

How long before bpearthwatch starts claims that it is causing earthquakes and such?


5 posted on 03/02/2018 3:40:44 PM PST by Darksheare (Those who support liberal "Republicans" summarily support every action by same.)
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To: BenLurkin

And what if it were calculated to pass at a distance of 50 miles and be pulled into the earth’s gravitational field. What would we do?


6 posted on 03/02/2018 3:45:36 PM PST by luvbach1 (I hope Trump runs roughshod over the inevitable obstuctionists, Dems, progs, libs, or RINOs!)
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To: luvbach1

“And what if it were calculated to pass at a distance of 50 miles and be pulled into the earth’s gravitational field. What would we do?”

Anything you wanted.


7 posted on 03/02/2018 3:49:24 PM PST by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: BenLurkin

8 posted on 03/02/2018 3:49:50 PM PST by avenir ("But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine."--Paul to Titus)
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To: luvbach1

Prepare to meet my Maker.


9 posted on 03/02/2018 3:50:27 PM PST by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: BenLurkin
This is a zero.


10 posted on 03/02/2018 3:54:42 PM PST by DoodleBob
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To: BenLurkin
Can we deflect it somehow, so that it knocks Californication into Antarctica?  (Just kidding, Robinsons, and Californish Freepers!!!)
11 posted on 03/02/2018 3:56:25 PM PST by Songcraft ("Pray without ceasing." 1 Thessalonians 5:17)
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To: DuncanWaring

If we knew it’s trajectory, couldn’t we launch a nuke-armed space vehicle and intercept it before it reached earth’s gravitational field?


12 posted on 03/02/2018 4:00:52 PM PST by luvbach1 (I hope Trump runs roughshod over the inevitable obstuctionists, Dems, progs, libs, or RINOs!)
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To: luvbach1

Correction: If we knew its trajectory, couldn’t we launch a nuke-armed space vehicle and intercept it before it reached earth’s gravitational field?


13 posted on 03/02/2018 4:02:09 PM PST by luvbach1 (I hope Trump runs roughshod over the inevitable obstuctionists, Dems, progs, libs, or RINOs!)
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To: BenLurkin

this is all part of the bomb cyclone


14 posted on 03/02/2018 4:05:30 PM PST by goldendelicious
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To: luvbach1
And what if it were calculated to pass at a distance of 50 miles and be pulled into the earth’s gravitational field. What would we do?

Watch it go by! 50 miles would be the closest approach of its hyperbolic orbit. It would have to graze the atmosphere to lose speed and fall to the surface.

15 posted on 03/02/2018 4:22:42 PM PST by dr_lew
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To: BenLurkin

Women and children to be unaffected the most!


16 posted on 03/02/2018 4:41:33 PM PST by Panzerlied ("We shall never surrender!")
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To: luvbach1

There has been talk of doing that.

Seems fairly straightforward; we (mankind) have intercepted comets “in the wild” on at least two occasions that I know of.


17 posted on 03/02/2018 5:17:57 PM PST by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: BenLurkin

But, the question is, “Is it bigger than Broward County?”


18 posted on 03/02/2018 5:19:55 PM PST by bunkerhill7 ((((("The Second Amendment has no limits on firepower"-NY State Senator Kathleen A. Marchione.")))))))
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To: BenLurkin

Hey, where’s all the asteroid miners around here. Drop off the iron ore on the next pass.


19 posted on 03/02/2018 5:42:56 PM PST by SgtHooper (If you remember the 60's, YOU WEREN'T THERE!)
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To: dr_lew

Heh! I guess I misunderestimated how close that would be! It would be grazing the top of the Mesosphere ( where meteors burn up ... ) so you sure wouldn’t want it any closer.

Also, its predicted speed relative to earth during the encounter is 4 miles/sec, which is somewhat less than low-earth-orbit speed. This means to have a close approach, with this initial incoming speed, ( disregarding the atmosphere ) of 50 miles, its motion would be significantly affected by the earth, even though hyperbolic. So, this would be really really really close!

Maybe if you had said 500 miles, I would have been on a little firmer ground :-)


20 posted on 03/02/2018 5:49:51 PM PST by dr_lew
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