Asteroid to pass closer to Earth than the moon

shockwave

shockwave

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Found this article on lightyears.blogs.cnn.com and thought I'd share it with those of you who's online content is limited to gaming forums and porn...lol


The story is quite interesting and if you have clear skies where you are, you should be able to see the beast with the naked eye or pair of binoculars. I have always been fascinated with astronomy and cosmology, so I always keeping up with stuff like this and thought it was noteworthy enough to share.


If you have time check out the comments posted by other readers they are almost as interesting as the article itself but if nothing else’s they are definitely entertaining because news stories like this one always bring out the weirdo's


An aircraft carrier-sized asteroid, a little over four football fields in diameter, is heading toward Earth and it will pass closer to our planet than the moon.

NASA has classified the asteroid as a “potentially hazardous object” and it will pass to within .8 lunar distances on November 8. It is the closest approach to Earth of an object this size in over 30 years.

What would happen if an asteroid this size crashed into Earth?

It would result in a 4,000 megaton blast, magnitude 7.0 earthquake and - if it falls into the ocean - could cause a 70-foot high tsunami within 60 miles of the crash site, according to an expert at Purdue University.

However, this space rock poses no threat of an Earth collision for at least the next 100 years, according to NASA’s Near Earth Object Program.

So what’s the big deal?

Encounters of objects this large this close to our planet won't happen again until the year 2028 when an asteroid will pass near Earth to within .6 lunar distances.

NASA plans to study the asteroid with the Goldstone radar antennas in California’s Mojave Desert. Goldstone antennas are very sensitive radio telescopes used to investigate quasars, radar mapping of planets and comets.

Scientists plan to reconstruct the shape of the asteroid with a resolution as fine as 13 feet (4 meters) using the antennas. Several days of high resolution operations are also scheduled at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.

It will also provide a rare opportunity for amateur astronomers to directly observe an asteroid with optical telescopes.

The asteroid will approach Earth from a sunward direction and it will be a daylight object until the time of its closest approach on November 8. The best time to see the asteroid will be after the hours of 4 pm EST (21:00 UTC).

Watch more on asteroid 2005 YU55 from CNN's Reynolds Wolf.
Click to expand...

Source Asteroid to pass closer to Earth than the moon – Light Years - CNN.com Blogs
 
Based on the reports I'm not concerned about it hitting us this time around but it's pretty chilling when you realize how close this bad boy is coming and while we'll all be long gone by then it's going to be even closer in 2098.
 
i saw it already last i checked was close to moon going pretty fast (but slow in our eyes).

Looks like a big star.
 
Really? The BBC was saying it's about the size of a ship and you'd need a 6" telescope to see it. Maybe it was a big star?
 
At least you can see it. It's windy and raining by me :(
 
Could not see it in Ohio with clear skies and out of the city. I heard you needed a telescope too.
 
I could see it or i think what i was watching was it. I had absolutely clear skies. The thing i was watching was right where the asteroid was suppose to be at the time it was suppose to be there. I watch for about 20 mins and it did move.
 
that was the UFO that the goverment wanted you to see not the asteroid
 
i hope i wasn't watching the wrong fucking thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

boooooooooooooooooooo

i swear frit0z and I saw the same thing.
 
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