Duck! Asteroid headed for Earth
FROM TODAY'S PRINT EDITIONS:
A newly-discovered asteroid is hurtling toward Earth this morning. I’m happy to report it will NOT strike us, and this is not the end of the world as we know it. But the space rock – Asteroid 2011MD, as big as 65 feet across – will skim within just 7,500 miles of the South Atlantic at about 9:30 a.m. Monday.
That’s VERY close as these things usually go, well inside the orbits of our geo-synchronous communications satellites. Rocks this size get this close once every six years, on average.
Posted by Frank Roylance at 12:02 AM | Permalink
| Comments (1)
Categories: From the Sun's print edition, Sky Notes
Categories: From the Sun's print edition, Sky Notes
Comments
Frank,
Even "IF" this did happen to strike us would we not just see a large fireball ???
65 feet is not exactly earth ending as far as the little research I have done.
The Tunguska Asteroid is estimated at few tens of meters across.
Of course this "research" is my own light reading of a few wiki articles.
Fran In Baltimore
FR: True. It would not have been a global event. But depending on its type, it could well have hit the ground with local damage. I was being a tad hyperbolic. Tunguska, if I recall correctly, is believed to have been a very flimsy icy ball, perhaps a comet. A stony or iron object would have done more damage.
Posted by: Fran Smith | June 26, 2011 12:04 PM