A Close Approach to Earth by the Asteroid DA14
TopNews Arab Emirates-17 hours ago
Asteroid-DA14 A close but not so close shove of an asteroid with our planet Earth is bound to happen on February 15. This asteroid, which is ...
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A
close but not so close shove of an asteroid with our planet Earth is
bound to happen on February 15. This asteroid, which is thought to be
more than the size of football field will make quite a close approach
towards earth.Asteroid 2012 DA14 is one of the 50,000 cosmic existences of this sort. The asteroid would be traveling at 4.8 miles per second. It will go faster as it travels from the southern evening sky to the northern morning sky as it would move towards the Earth.
The scientists have said that this asteroid will be the closest of all the trysts that the cosmic existences must have come across. The astronomer Dave Reneke from Australasian Science Magazine said that the objects like these would come close to the earth at least once in 30 years.
Scientists would be using radar to observe DA14. The composition and structure of the asteroid would be studied by them. Along with this, they are planning to comprehend the evolution of the solar system. There is a speculation that the asteroid may contain water. That would be only revealed after studying the composition of the rock.
Scientists have denied any harms pertaining to the little closeness of Earth with this asteroid.
end quote from:
A Close Approach to Earth by the Asteroid DA14
-17 hours ago
Asteroid-DA14 A close but not so close shove of an asteroid with our planet Earth is bound to happen on February 15. This asteroid, which is ...
|
'Record close' asteroid may miss the Earth but it could take out your phone
Scientists have dismissed fears an asteroid due to whizz past the Earth on Friday will 'destroy London' - but it could take out vital telecommunications satellites.
The path of asteroid 2012 DA14's approach to earth is shown in this graphic from NASA. Photo: NASA/REUTERS
Scientists say they are sure there is no chance of the 150ft (45.7m) wide
space rock hitting the planet.
But there is a remote possibility that it could collide with one of more than
100 telecommunication and weather satellites in fixed orbits above the Earth.
The asteroid, 2012 DA14, has been closely tracked since its discovery a year
ago.
It is predicted to reach its nearest point to the Earth at around 7.30pm UK
time on Friday.
Experts have calculated it will stay at least 17,200 miles (27,681km) away -
easily far enough to be safe, but a very close shave in astronomical terms.
Scientists have never observed such a narrow miss before.
Dr Dan Brown, from Nottingham Trent University, said telecommunication
satellites - that ping data between our mobile phones - could be in danger.
Travelling at between 12,427mph (20,000kph) and 18,641mph (30,000kph) - around five miles (8km) a second, or eight times the speed of a rifle bullet - the asteroid will fly inside the orbits of high geostationary satellites some 22,000 miles (35,406km) above the Earth.
''These are the satellites that provide us with telecommunications and weather forecasts,'' said Dr Brown.
''There are loads of them but you're talking about a very big area. It would be very unlucky if a satellite was hit. The asteroid is more likely to hit some space junk, but most of this is only about a centimetre across and the impact won't even be noticed.''
Through binoculars, the object should be visible as a tiny dot of light crossing the sky.
''It will be too faint for the naked eye but with binoculars it should be visible if you know where to look. It will be low to the north-eastern horizon and moving quite quickly," said Dr Brown.
''You'll be able to see it pass from the constellation Leo to roughly the Plough, more or less from anywhere in the UK, and it will be bright for about an hour.''
DA14 belongs to dangerous family of near-Earth objects (NEOs) that are small enough to be missed but large enough to cause serious damage.
It was detected in February last year by La Sagra Observatory in southern Spain as it fell under the spotlight of the Sun's rays.
The asteroid will pose no danger to the International Space Station, which orbits at an altitude of only a few hundred kilometres.
Precise calculations showed there was absolutely no possibility of DA14 hitting the Earth, Dr Brown said.
But scientists had a good idea of what the effect of such an impact would be because a similar sized meteor devastated a remote region of Siberia in 1908.
Exploding a short distance above the ground over Tunguska, the object generated a blast 1,000 times more powerful than the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Forest was completely flattened over an area of 830 square miles (2,150 sq km).
"'We think the object that impacted at Tunguska would have been of a similar size to DA14,'' said Dr Brown.
''Actually, it exploded in the air. It didn't destroy humanity, but if this object had exploded over London it would have wiped out London. It's not a global impact, but it's a severe impact.''
During the flypast, scientists will use radar to study DA14 and learn about its composition and structure. The knowledge could prove useful if steps have to be taken to remove the threat of another space rock.
The ''Hollywood option'' of blowing up an incoming asteroid has been ruled out by experts. Such a dramatic solution would only result in deadly debris raining down on Earth. Instead, scientists are looking at ways of gently nudging an asteroid onto a safer trajectory.
A future mission planned by the American space agency Nasa, called Dart, will fire a probe into an asteroid to see if it can be moved. However, this may not be for another 10 or 20 years, said Dr Brown.
Meanwhile astronomers are currently tracking up to 400 NEOs that, like DA14, have been categorised as a potential threat. While a number are about the same size as DA14 ''there will also be some considerably larger,'' Dr Brown added.
The American space agency Nasa launched its NEO programme 15 years ago with the aim of finding all ''extinction event'' asteroids and comets 0.62 miles (1km) across and larger. Later, it started focusing on smaller objects.
Dr Don Yeomans, who manages Nasa's near-Earth object office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said at a press conference held by the agency: ''Probably we'd not have found DA14 10 years ago and not known about this close approach. But we still have a lot of improvement to do in finding all of the hazardous asteroids.''
Experts will soon be gathering at the United Nations to discuss how to monitor and deal with potentially dangerous space objects.
Fewer than 10,000 of the asteroids which could one day pose a threat to the Earth have so far been identified.
Dr Lindley Johnson, who heads Nasa's NEO observations programme, said: ''That does represent less than 10 per cent of all the objects that may be out there. It does take quite a bit of capability, both in sensitivity - the ability to detect these small objects - and also time.
''It is an effort that will take another decade or two even if we have the most sophisticated systems that feasible technology will allow us.''
end quote from:
Travelling at between 12,427mph (20,000kph) and 18,641mph (30,000kph) - around five miles (8km) a second, or eight times the speed of a rifle bullet - the asteroid will fly inside the orbits of high geostationary satellites some 22,000 miles (35,406km) above the Earth.
''These are the satellites that provide us with telecommunications and weather forecasts,'' said Dr Brown.
''There are loads of them but you're talking about a very big area. It would be very unlucky if a satellite was hit. The asteroid is more likely to hit some space junk, but most of this is only about a centimetre across and the impact won't even be noticed.''
Through binoculars, the object should be visible as a tiny dot of light crossing the sky.
''It will be too faint for the naked eye but with binoculars it should be visible if you know where to look. It will be low to the north-eastern horizon and moving quite quickly," said Dr Brown.
''You'll be able to see it pass from the constellation Leo to roughly the Plough, more or less from anywhere in the UK, and it will be bright for about an hour.''
DA14 belongs to dangerous family of near-Earth objects (NEOs) that are small enough to be missed but large enough to cause serious damage.
It was detected in February last year by La Sagra Observatory in southern Spain as it fell under the spotlight of the Sun's rays.
The asteroid will pose no danger to the International Space Station, which orbits at an altitude of only a few hundred kilometres.
Precise calculations showed there was absolutely no possibility of DA14 hitting the Earth, Dr Brown said.
But scientists had a good idea of what the effect of such an impact would be because a similar sized meteor devastated a remote region of Siberia in 1908.
Exploding a short distance above the ground over Tunguska, the object generated a blast 1,000 times more powerful than the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Forest was completely flattened over an area of 830 square miles (2,150 sq km).
"'We think the object that impacted at Tunguska would have been of a similar size to DA14,'' said Dr Brown.
''Actually, it exploded in the air. It didn't destroy humanity, but if this object had exploded over London it would have wiped out London. It's not a global impact, but it's a severe impact.''
During the flypast, scientists will use radar to study DA14 and learn about its composition and structure. The knowledge could prove useful if steps have to be taken to remove the threat of another space rock.
The ''Hollywood option'' of blowing up an incoming asteroid has been ruled out by experts. Such a dramatic solution would only result in deadly debris raining down on Earth. Instead, scientists are looking at ways of gently nudging an asteroid onto a safer trajectory.
A future mission planned by the American space agency Nasa, called Dart, will fire a probe into an asteroid to see if it can be moved. However, this may not be for another 10 or 20 years, said Dr Brown.
Meanwhile astronomers are currently tracking up to 400 NEOs that, like DA14, have been categorised as a potential threat. While a number are about the same size as DA14 ''there will also be some considerably larger,'' Dr Brown added.
The American space agency Nasa launched its NEO programme 15 years ago with the aim of finding all ''extinction event'' asteroids and comets 0.62 miles (1km) across and larger. Later, it started focusing on smaller objects.
Dr Don Yeomans, who manages Nasa's near-Earth object office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said at a press conference held by the agency: ''Probably we'd not have found DA14 10 years ago and not known about this close approach. But we still have a lot of improvement to do in finding all of the hazardous asteroids.''
Experts will soon be gathering at the United Nations to discuss how to monitor and deal with potentially dangerous space objects.
Fewer than 10,000 of the asteroids which could one day pose a threat to the Earth have so far been identified.
Dr Lindley Johnson, who heads Nasa's NEO observations programme, said: ''That does represent less than 10 per cent of all the objects that may be out there. It does take quite a bit of capability, both in sensitivity - the ability to detect these small objects - and also time.
''It is an effort that will take another decade or two even if we have the most sophisticated systems that feasible technology will allow us.''
end quote from:
'Record close' asteroid may miss the Earth but it could take out your ...
repeat quote from above:
"Scientists have never observed such a narrow miss before. "
end repeat quote from above.
However, if you observe objects like the moon without an atmosphere, the moon gets hit all the time by all sorts of things. So, the reason the Earth isn't cratered much is most things either bounce off our atmosphere like a rock skipping on the surface of the ocean, or they burn up in the atmosphere. Something has to be really big not to completely burn up before it hits the ground from its incredible speed and friction often of thousands of miles an hour as it hits the atmosphere. However, this one only might hit a phone satellite.
However, there is so much stuff up there if it hit even one big thing it could cause a chain reaction of events that could go on for a long time as one thing hit another up there. So, it seems to me that all sorts of weird things excluding the asteroid hitting earth could actually occur in real time over a month or a years time of richochets of one object off another. However, because of the speed the asteroid is traveling in relation to earth more likely it would obliterate anything it even touched because it would be going so fast in relation to whatever the other object or objects would actually be before any contact. So, anyway you look at it it is a first for people of the Space Age of Earth since 1957 and Sputnik.
Later: I was thinking, "Wouldn't it be interesting if this was an alien craft headed for earth instead of an Asteroid? You know, like a mothership?" If so, this would make sense because since the 1950s intuitives and psychics always have said, "2012 to 2014 is when the Galactic Government would finally contact the people of earth and not just the Governments like they have up until now.
repeat quote from above:
"Scientists have never observed such a narrow miss before. "
end repeat quote from above.
However, if you observe objects like the moon without an atmosphere, the moon gets hit all the time by all sorts of things. So, the reason the Earth isn't cratered much is most things either bounce off our atmosphere like a rock skipping on the surface of the ocean, or they burn up in the atmosphere. Something has to be really big not to completely burn up before it hits the ground from its incredible speed and friction often of thousands of miles an hour as it hits the atmosphere. However, this one only might hit a phone satellite.
However, there is so much stuff up there if it hit even one big thing it could cause a chain reaction of events that could go on for a long time as one thing hit another up there. So, it seems to me that all sorts of weird things excluding the asteroid hitting earth could actually occur in real time over a month or a years time of richochets of one object off another. However, because of the speed the asteroid is traveling in relation to earth more likely it would obliterate anything it even touched because it would be going so fast in relation to whatever the other object or objects would actually be before any contact. So, anyway you look at it it is a first for people of the Space Age of Earth since 1957 and Sputnik.
Later: I was thinking, "Wouldn't it be interesting if this was an alien craft headed for earth instead of an Asteroid? You know, like a mothership?" If so, this would make sense because since the 1950s intuitives and psychics always have said, "2012 to 2014 is when the Galactic Government would finally contact the people of earth and not just the Governments like they have up until now.
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