Datahopa

I will be posting here randomly as I spot any Near Earth Orbit (NEO) Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) that get between us and the moon. i.e. less than 1 LD (lunar distance).

I get this info from Space Weather (http://www.spaceweather.com/) (list is near the bottom)

The asteroid 2011 AN52 will get to 0.8 LD but is only 8 metres across. On Jan 17 2011 . Link here (http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ca/) for longer list.

That's a neat idea Snowy, you can inform us of our pending doom  :o.

Hopefully there won't be many posts made in this topic, but lets see.

A new PHA coming up and I missed one on the 9th of FEB.

Name          Date of          Distance (LD = Lunar Distance)
                  closest               and Size
                  approach

2011 CA7   Feb 9       0.3 LD and only 4 meters across.

2009 BD     Jun 2       0.9 LD and only 9 meters across.

New one found.

2011 EB74     Mar 16     0.9 LD        18 m

Click here (http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ca/) for more complete list.

I missed 2.

2011 GW9      Apr 6       0.5 LD        10 m
2011 GP28     Apr 6       0.2 LD        6 m

And this one is still to come.

2009 BD     Jun 2       0.9 LD        9 m.

Spaceweather (http://www.spaceweather.com/) has a meteor video today (08/04/2011). It was clocked travelling at 32,400 mph and parts landed close to the Kentucky border.

Not been any close PHAs for a while.

June 27th the asteroid 2011 MD will pass at 0.05 LD from us. It's only 13 meters across so is nowhere near a planet buster.

Info from Space Weather (http://www.spaceweather.com/) site.
Here is a list of NEOs (http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ca/).

Missed one from Spaceweather.

2011 OD18     July 28     0.4 LD     22m

And another still to come.

2005 YU55      Nov 9       0.8 LD     175m

A new study into Near Earth Objects annouced:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16651642 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16651642)

So, what do we think is the best method guys?

I'm with the Kinetic Impactor myself  :)

And I actually mean the ones in space too  :P

Looks like we had a near miss recently

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16756450 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16756450)

DD

DD I merged two of your topics with Snowys PHA watch. 

NO problem, makes sense to me  :thumbsup:

For those not wanting to read the PHA was named "2012 BX34" and passed by at 0.2 LD (Lunar Distance) on 27th Jan.

It was only spotted about 7 days before its closest approach.

Which could be considered a little bit scary!!!

It was only 13 meters accross. Some would've got through but most would've burnt up.

Likely damage would be 1 car or 1 roof with what was left. Most likely to hit sea.

Just watched Horizon: The good, the bad, and the ugly. It was about asteroids

The Tunguska event in 1908 was estimated at 1-10 mega ton explosion and estimated to be about 30-50 meter asteroid.

I revise my blasé comment in the previous post about a 13m asteroid.

regarless of the size, what was scary was that it was only spotted 7 days before passing.

It just shows how important the NEOshield research actually is!!

Quote from: Snowcrash on February 02, 2012, 21:10:19 PM
Just watched Horizon: The good, the bad, and the ugly. It was about asteroids

The Tunguska event in 1908 was estimated at 1-10 mega ton explosion and estimated to be about 30-50 meter asteroid.

I revise my blasé comment in the previous post about a 13m asteroid.

Yeah, I don't think that an asteroid that measures 13 meters across would "mostly burn off", especially if it were composed of dense nickel/iron, like most asteroids are. By the time it hit the ground, I'm guessing it would still be roughly 10 meters across, and depending on speed, could produce an impact force of 100 to 1,000 kilotons, which could easily level anything from an entire city block to a few square miles or more. The town I grew up in would probably be completely vaporized, should something that size make a surprise appearance. Of course, said town has a population of only 500 people, but still...

The real scarey bit is not the impact but the high winds from the detonation.

The Tunguska event was an air burst as well and leveled many square miles on forest. Would level most cities if in the wrong place.

Here's a link  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event) for those who have never heard of it.

Near-miss asteroid will return next year, even closer


Source: Near-miss asteroid will return next year, even closer (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120315225625.htm)

A new PHA coming up.

Name          Date of          Distance (LD = Lunar Distance)
                  closest               and Size
                  approach

2012 EG5   Apr 1      0.6 LD and 62 meters across.

Been doing a little homework. 20-30 meters (almost the same as yards) will tend to burn up. 50m is roughly the size of what caused the Barringer Crater (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_Crater) (also known as meteor crater) and the Tunguska. The difference being, Barringer Crater was an iron meteor and Tunguska was an ice meteor/comet.

Thanks for the info, Snowy! great stuff! :thumbsup:
I've been to the Barringer Meteor Crater a couple of times, and have every intention of visiting again some day. The place is both breathtakingly beautiful and humbling, and is one of the reasons why I love the field of astronomy so much. It's staggering to think that something so small (cosmically speaking, that is) can do so much damage.

Closest approach I've ever seen.

2012 DA14 (http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2012DA14&orb=1)     Feb 15      0.09 LD      57 m

0.09LD is still about 34,500km

Source SpaceWeather (http://www.spaceweather.com/) (at bottom of page)

That's as close or closer to the Earth than some of our satellites. :O

Very cool, Snowy and quite interesting but if you ever come across a "for certain" ELE please let me know along with the exact coordinates. I fully intend to pack a picnic basket, a nice bottle or two of good wine and drive or fly to that location for an "X" marks the spot view of what's coming!! YeeHaw!! Let 'er rip!! It's been a fun ride!!

Have you ever seen Dr Strangelove?

It's a black comedy about nuclear war and I can picture you with a cowboy hat riding the nuke on it's way down.  ;D

All the 1km (0.6 mile) or bigger asteroids have been mapped so no planet busters out there in the forseeable future. As for the 50m/yard ones, who knows? Quite a few show as 'hit' with a large error margin but all clear as I type. These are city killers and would put a fair crimp in your day.

I tend to post the ones less than 1LD, 0.09 is the lowest I've seen.

In an effort to help bring this post somewhat up to date:
https://theskylive.com/near-earth-objects