Asteroid Passing Way Too Close To Earth Today

At 2:24 EST today an event will take place unprecedented in recorded human history.  

Asteroid 2012 DA 14 will uncomfortably zip by our planet and miss it by a mere 17,200 miles (27,700 km) above the eastern Indian Ocean near Sumatra..

That is way closer than our communications and weather satellites parked in geosynchronous orbits 22,000 miles above our planet.  

The asteroid is 45 meters across (150 feet) but if the calculations of astronomers are off and it struck it would be a real bad day for the peeps on that side of our planet.

Scientists calculate if 2012 DA 14 made impact it would have the explosive power of a few megatons of TNT and cause localized damage similar to the 1908 Tunguska Event.  

That was an airburst explosion which flattened about 750 square miles (1,200 square kilometers) of a thankfully remote Siberian forested region in what is now northern Russia.

NASA and other international space agencies are tracking the space rock in order to calculate its precise orbit and add it to the 9500 asteroids it is tracking with diameters of half a mile (one km).

And speaking of calculations, hope the astronomers were right .

TransGriot Update:  If you have a good pair of binoculars and live in Asia, Australia and eastern Europe, you'll be able to see 2012 DA 14.

Aircraft Carrier Sized Asteroid to Pass Between Earth And Moon Tomorrow

As you long time readers know I'm fascinated by all things space related, and the news that an aircraft carrier sized asteroid is passing between the Earth and the Moon got my attention.

The asteroid is named 2005 YU55 and it is being watched by ground antennas as it approaches Earth from the direction of the sun.  It will pass within 202,000 miles of our home planet and less than 150,000 miles from the Moon at 5:28 PM CST tomorrow.

That's the closest approach any space rock has made to our planet in 35 years, but scientists are satisfied it won't hit either the Earth or the Moon.  

"We’re extremely confident, 100 percent confident, that this is not a threat,” said the Don Yeomans, the manager of NASA’s Near Earth Object Program.  "But it is an opportunity.”

If it did it according to Purdue University professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences Jay Melosh, it would be a very bad day for the planet.  If it struck land it would gouge out a crater four miles wide and 1700 feet deep with the explosive power of 25,000 Hiroshima bombs.  If it hit the ocean it would cause a 70 foot high tsunami that would speed toward the nations bordering whatever ocean it hit.

Melosh also echoed what Yeomans stated in terms of the Earth and Moon being safe this time, but hope both of y'all double and triple checked your math.

At any rate, not canceling any plans I had for Wednesday either.  .  
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