Asteroid 2012 DA14 passes very close to Earth Feb. 15th

[Symphonic]

The closest it will come to earth is 170,000 miles away. It's projected to be 200,000 miles away. Haven't heard of any satellites that far out from earth.

[Sayl]

What.

I've not heard any full blown confirmations, and I don't think they would, as that would incite mass-panic, no doubt.

That impact scenario for Apophis has been ruled out.

Detecting and monitoring asteroids and near-Earth objects is a collaborative effort involving a slew of institutions, and it's not like NASA somehow has a monopoly on facilities or observations. There's no keeping this information from the public, no matter how you choose to define "they".

---------- Post added 2013-02-09 at 05:24 PM ----------

The closest it will come to earth is 170,000 miles away. It's projected to be 200,000 miles away. Haven't heard of any satellites that far out from earth.

You must be thinking of a different asteroid. 2012 DA 14 will pass within 28,500 km (18,000 miles) of the surface, which is inside the orbits of geosynchronous satellites.

[Deleted]

Asteroid will plough through with a grin on it's face saying "Deal with it", and piss off. It won't even slightly change its trajectory.

[Anakso]

Laser bees!

There are several promising (non-nuclear) deflection strategies being developed, but the necessary research and funding (especially in NASA's case) really hasn't been given high priority treatment. That needs to change.

This is really an area begging for international cooperation though. While NASA has a wide range of capabilities, asteroid threat mitigation really should be a global effort rather than something resting on the shoulders of any one agency.

Agreed although not every plan that could stop asteroids is NASAs.

Ignore the URL I swear I first saw and heard about this somewhere else, this was just the easiest link to find for some reason.

Basically it's like they're making a giant catchers mitt for asteroids.

[Sayl]

Agreed although not every plan that could stop asteroids is NASAs.

Oh of course -- many of the possibilities being explored come from university groups and private organizations (like the B612 Foundation and the program I linked at The Planetary Society). In the end I don't think it really matters who develops the best mitigation techniques (and those will vary depending on the size and proximity of the target asteroids), we just need to pick up the pace and implement these systems well in advance instead of putting it off.

My biggest concern would be facing an impact scenario for which we're not suitably prepared. This will be magnified in coming years as new observatories and detection systems go into service. We're going to find a lot more space rocks and we'd better be in good shape to deal with them should the need arise.

[Anakso]

Out of pure coincidence I guess this video just popped up in my youtube feed. Very relevant



It seem I'm going to get the best view of this asteroid!

My biggest concern would be facing an impact scenario for which we're not suitably prepared. This will be magnified in coming years as new observatories and detection systems go into service. We're going to find a lot more space rocks and we'd better be in good shape to deal with them should the need arise.

I've got to say, I've always been a bit of an optimist but I think we are. These technologies are of course not built yet but I think if we were to discover an asteroid coming to earth, they'd really kick it into gear and get the proper funding and be ready by the time the asteroid does get close

[Speaknoevil]

We should commandeer it and build a space station on it.

[Sayl]

It seem I'm going to get the best view of this asteroid!

Yeah, WA is a good spot to be if you can get away from city lights. Do you have a telescope or binoculars?

[Noomz]

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsyst...roidflyby.html

NASA claims there is "no chance" of the asteroid hitting Earth but what I question is that there is a "small chance" that it will hit one of our satellites when it passes through the geosynchronous ring. If it were to hit one of our satellites, is it possible that it could change the trajectory of the asteroid? Possibly changing its course to hit Earth? Just something to think about.

I also heard that NASA found another asteroid that plans to hit Earth in 2029? I cant find anything on it though... so maybe it was not credible or maybe i misunderstood. Anyone hear or read anything on this?

Any satellite in it's path will be scrapmetal and the asteroid will keep on plowing through our solarsystem. These things move at incredible speeds. But that really is too close for comfort. What may really affect it is our planets gravity and any other planets it may pass.

Not sure if this is the same one but, there is one they called Apophis that they thought was gonna get close or hit, but they had later calculated that to be incorrect.

[Anakso]

Yeah, WA is a good spot to be if you can get away from city lights. Do you have a telescope or binoculars?

Nope :<
I don't live near city lights so at night I do get a good view of the stars. I should buy some binoculars before the meteor hits.
Telescope would be to much.

[Sayl]

Not sure if this is the same one but, there is one they called Apophis that they thought was gonna get close or hit, but they had later calculated that to be incorrect.

This is a different asteroid. (I linked to the Apophis update a few posts back. ^)

---------- Post added 2013-02-10 at 12:14 AM ----------

Nope :<
I don't live near city lights so at night I do get a good view of the stars. I should buy some binoculars before the meteor hits.
Telescope would be to much.

Ah, bummer. Even with your favorable location for the fly-by it'll still be too dim to see without some sort of equipment. I wouldn't go out of your way to buy anything just for this though, the view will be far from impressive. One of the joys of backyard astronomy is going to all the trouble to locate these things when they pass through our neighborhood (geek factor), but this object will just appear as a faint dot in the eyepiece. You'll get better results with one of the live webcasts that'll be tracking the asteroid. (I posted a link to one earlier and will add more as they're announced.)

[Anakso]

T
Ah, bummer. Even with your favorable location for the fly-by it'll still be too dim to see without some sort of equipment. I wouldn't go out of your way to buy anything just for this though, the view will be far from impressive. One of the joys of backyard astronomy is going to all the trouble to locate these things when they pass through our neighborhood (geek factor), but this object will just appear as a faint dot in the eyepiece. You'll get better results with one of the live webcasts that'll be tracking the asteroid. (I posted a link to one earlier and will add more as they're announced.)

Oh cool
I'll just watch one of them then.

[Deleted]

I just want an excuse to launch a few nukes up at it . Being able to troll all the America haters by being legitamitly able to say that America saved the planet (or at least millions of lived) would be wonderful.

I have a better idea; launch a one-person shuttle containing you-know-who* directly into the path of it. Not only will the person die, but the remains will eventually be transported out of the solar system, making this world a better place to live.

* not Voldemort.

[Sayl]

Should anyone be interested in trying to catch the fly-by online, here's an updated list of live coverage and broadcast times (thanks to Sky & Telescope):

• On February 15th, weather permitting, HD video of the asteroid crossing the stars will be streamed from the Clay Center Observatory in Brookline, Massachusetts, from 6 p.m. EST until 4 a.m. the next morning EST (23:00 UT Feb. 15 to 9:00 UT Feb. 16).

• Real-time video will be streamed by Slooh.com beginning at 9:00 p.m. EST February 15th (2:00 UT Feb. 16th).

• The Virtual Telescope Project in Europe plans live streaming starting earlier, at 5:00 p.m. EST (22:00 UT Feb. 15th).

• Bareket Observatory in Israel will track the asteroid on February 15th using a remote telescope coupled with a cooled CCD camera.
Its webcast is scheduled from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. EST (19:00 to 20:30 UT) . This includes the time of closest approach.

[Kaleredar]

Why do you question this?

Could lose TV reception, yo.

[Sayl]

JPL has a live feed going on Ustream, currently showing imagery from the Samford Valley Observatory in Brisbane.

You can see the asteroid right now but it's not super-exciting.

Now it's switched from Samford Valley to Murrumbateman.

(And for good measure, this is completely unrelated to the meteor over Russia earlier.)

[Sayl]

Even when you cram almost two hours of footage into 19 seconds... it's still just a dot.

Impressive video, nonetheless.