Wow! It is ages since I posted here. Well.... I am still alive
After some conjecture about near misses of earth by asteroids, and after some browsing revealed two things, I thought I would add some substance to the scaremongering.
First, most of what is reported is sensationalism by the press so nothing new there. I was unable to find any record of a supposed large rock that allegedly travelled past earth inside the geostationary orbit altitude. So..... probably there never was such a thing.
Second, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory has a Near Earth Object (http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/) tracking site on which you can see what is likely to happen on any day. So for your delectation, TOMORROW will see one of the closest shaves this year. Historical data is absent, or very difficult to find, so I present this screen-shot.
The first thing to be aware of is that the behaviour of these objects is difficult to predict because the surface reflectivity and composition is unknown. However tomorrow's rock is close at approximately one lunar distance and it is moving fairly quickly compared to some. Provided it does not collide with the moon there should be no problem, and I expect we would know if that was likely.
The second thing to be aware of is that a mile-sized object did pass close to earth a year or two back, and is due a re-visit in 2017 iirc. The concern is that the close approach last time may have deflected the object's orbit making it difficult to know where it will appear in the future. Of one thing you can be sure ... they will not tell us if an impact is expected.
So.... eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die!
After some conjecture about near misses of earth by asteroids, and after some browsing revealed two things, I thought I would add some substance to the scaremongering.
First, most of what is reported is sensationalism by the press so nothing new there. I was unable to find any record of a supposed large rock that allegedly travelled past earth inside the geostationary orbit altitude. So..... probably there never was such a thing.
Second, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory has a Near Earth Object (http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/) tracking site on which you can see what is likely to happen on any day. So for your delectation, TOMORROW will see one of the closest shaves this year. Historical data is absent, or very difficult to find, so I present this screen-shot.
Attached Image
The first thing to be aware of is that the behaviour of these objects is difficult to predict because the surface reflectivity and composition is unknown. However tomorrow's rock is close at approximately one lunar distance and it is moving fairly quickly compared to some. Provided it does not collide with the moon there should be no problem, and I expect we would know if that was likely.
The second thing to be aware of is that a mile-sized object did pass close to earth a year or two back, and is due a re-visit in 2017 iirc. The concern is that the close approach last time may have deflected the object's orbit making it difficult to know where it will appear in the future. Of one thing you can be sure ... they will not tell us if an impact is expected.
So.... eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die!
Carbon-Dioxide: the gas of life!