Asteroid to pass within 17,200 miles on 2/15

[Heel n Toe]

That's pretty close.

Asteroid to Give Earth Record-Setting Close Shave on Feb. 15

An asteroid half the size of a football field will give Earth the ultimate close shave this month, passing closer than many satellites when it whizzes by, but it won't hit the planet, NASA scientists say.

The asteroid 2012 DA14 will fly by Earth on Feb. 15 and zip within 17,200 miles (27, 680 kilometers) of the planet during the cosmic close encounter. The asteroid will approach much closer to Earth than the moon, and well inside the paths of navigation and communications satellites.

"This is a record-setting close approach," Don Yeomans, the head of NASA's asteroid-tracking program, said in a statement. "Since regular sky surveys began in the 1990s, we've never seen an object this big get so close to Earth."

More: Asteroid to Give Earth Record-Setting Close Shave on Feb. 15 - Yahoo! News

[motion]

That's really close. Heck, 250,000 miles would be considered close. I hope something this size hits an ocean during my life time. I would love to see the videos and photography of such an event.

[red-beard]

The chance of one that size hitting the earth in our lifetime is pretty good.

Asteroids

It is when you get Asteroid impacts over a mile in diameter that we are seriously effed

[red-beard]

Oh, this is a fun little calculator!

Impact: Earth!

[Jim Richards]

[M.D. Holloway]

The Mayans were off by a smidge...

[targa911S]

Originally Posted by LubeMaster77

The Mayans were off by a smidge...

yer probably right. They calculated it to hit and were off on the margin of error.

[Chocaholic]

It's not a matter of "if".....it's a matter of "when".

[turn9]

The Mayans were off by a smidge...

We don't know that yet.....

T9

[targa911S]

maybe I'll wait to buy that valentines day present for MJ.

[svandamme]

i'm gonna get popcorn, whiskey and fireworks.. And order me a couple of strippers...
anything worth doing is worth doing right.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by svandamme

i'm gonna get popcorn, whiskey and fireworks.. And order me a couple of strippers...
anything worth doing is worth doing right.

Well, it is Valentines day, anyway...

[mikeesik]

It would only take the size of a football field sized meteor to impact the earth and make every person on the planet be without tooth paste for a very very very long time.

[911boost]

I hope the triffids don't come to life.

[aigel]

No big deal ...

[svandamme]

DA14 , if it were to hit, it would "only" be worth the equivalent of 2.5 megatons of TNT

Unless it happens to hit a major city, that's actually not to bad for the rest of the world

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by mikeesik

It would only take the size of a football field sized meteor to impact the earth and make every person on the planet be without tooth paste for a very very very long time.

No. Please review my above posts.

[jyl]

2012 DA14 has 2.5 megaton (MT) kinetic energy = 1X10^16 joules (J) = 1.3 x 10^8 kg * (1.27 x 10^4 m)^2

If it were 2X as large (diameter), so as to be football field size, it would have 10 MT energy.

About the size of the one of the larger US nuclear weapons.

I think it would be good if it hit the earth, on land somewhere without much intelligent life - Alabama? j/k - and left a warning. That we should develop an effective asteroid deflection system.

[BeyGon]

Originally Posted by jyl

2012 DA14 has 2.5 megaton (MT) kinetic energy = 1X10^16 joules (J) = 1.3 x 10^8 kg * (1.27 x 10^4 m)^2

If it were 2X as large (diameter), so as to be football field size, it would have 10 MT energy.

About the size of the one of the larger US nuclear weapons.

I think it would be good if it hit the earth, on land somewhere without much intelligent life -Washington DC. ? j/k - and left a warning. That we should develop an effective asteroid deflection system.

Sorry, had to change it, there are some good people in Alabama.

[enzo1]