Asteroid to path close by Earth today
- Thread starter Candlelight
- Start date
By path I mean pass, obviously. 
So I take it it didn't hit us... Right?
Can I get confirmation on this, I want to know if I need bother to get up for work tomorrow or if I can sleep in and call in sick due to the apocalypse or whatever.
Can I get confirmation on this, I want to know if I need bother to get up for work tomorrow or if I can sleep in and call in sick due to the apocalypse or whatever.
Seven times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. Think we're safe.
*hides under a small umbrella*
*hides under a small umbrella*
Seven times the distance to the moon?
Isn't that almost two million miles?
Pffft.
Bother us when it's close.
Man, the Sun almost got hit by a plane too.
Skip to 1:03:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8imy6Mq5Kk&feature=player_embedded[/yt]
Skip to 1:03:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8imy6Mq5Kk&feature=player_embedded[/yt]
In cosmic terms that's close.
The first thing I thought of was the Dominion is trying to blow up our sun.Man, the Sun almost got hit by a plane too.
God, I'm such a nerd.
Sure it is, but, meh.
Man, the Sun almost got hit by a plane too.
Damn you Xenu!!!!
They'd likely mostly burn up and then we'd get meteorites that the Meteorite Men would go and hunt. The chance of that hitting anybody is minimal, unless you're that woman who had one crash through her house, bounce off the radio and hit her in the ribs.
It's far relative to the distance between the Earth and the moon, but very close when you consider how far the Earth and moon are from other celestial bodies. One day the asteroid passing near is going to be much bigger. And then it's anybody's guess as to what will happen.
I wonder... if it might be possible for a large asteroid to get pulled into a stationary orbit around the Earth or the moon. Can you imagine... a huge rock approaches Earth, has everybody panicked, and then it slides into orbit. Later, the crew of the International Space Station has to abandon it, because the asteroid's plotted orbit is shifting and will eventually hit it. And then when it does, it knocks it off course just enough to ease it into a decaying orbit and then crashes into the surface, causing significant destruction. All because we built a space station.
I wonder... if it might be possible for a large asteroid to get pulled into a stationary orbit around the Earth or the moon. Can you imagine... a huge rock approaches Earth, has everybody panicked, and then it slides into orbit. Later, the crew of the International Space Station has to abandon it, because the asteroid's plotted orbit is shifting and will eventually hit it. And then when it does, it knocks it off course just enough to ease it into a decaying orbit and then crashes into the surface, causing significant destruction. All because we built a space station.
To be fair, though, "stuff flying around" is quite a bit thicker in the vicinity of Earth's orbit than it is in the vast majority of space.
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONUSP23cmAE&hd=1[/yt]
(Embedding this here, but you'd do much better watching it in HD on a large player)
Space is far from empty. It's full of all sorts of dust and debris. Most of it poses no threat to Earth, but it is a hazard to orbiting satellites and interplanetary probes; it would be especially hazardous to interstellar vehicles traveling at very high rates of speed.
Anyway, seven times the distance to the Moon isn't bad. We've had near misses within the Moon's orbit.
Anyway, seven times the distance to the Moon isn't bad. We've had near misses within the Moon's orbit.
And we will have a very near miss with a small asteroid (~150 feet across, but enough to have a thermonuclear explosion-sized impact) next February 15th. It will pass closer than the orbit of our geosynchronous satellites.
http://earthsky.org/space/asteroid-2012-da14-will-pass-very-close-to-earth-in-2013
Or the station is caught by that asteroid.. the Earth-system becoming one with two moons - one with a space station in orbit.It's far relative to the distance between the Earth and the moon, but very close when you consider how far the Earth and moon are from other celestial bodies. One day the asteroid passing near is going to be much bigger. And then it's anybody's guess as to what will happen.
I wonder... if it might be possible for a large asteroid to get pulled into a stationary orbit around the Earth or the moon. Can you imagine... a huge rock approaches Earth, has everybody panicked, and then it slides into orbit. Later, the crew of the International Space Station has to abandon it, because the asteroid's plotted orbit is shifting and will eventually hit it. And then when it does, it knocks it off course just enough to ease it into a decaying orbit and then crashes into the surface, causing significant destruction. All because we built a space station.
Disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence?
^^ New life? New civilizations?
Now, see, this is when I start to worry a bit.
