Author Topic: Large Asteroid to Narrowly Miss Earth Nov. 8  (Read 294 times)

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Offline skyblue1

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Large Asteroid to Narrowly Miss Earth Nov. 8
« on: November 02, 2011, 05:55:05 PM »
Large Asteroid to Narrowly Miss Earth Nov. 8

By EDWARD LOVETT
Nov. 2, 2011
On Tuesday, a large asteroid will pass Earth within the moon's orbit, giving scientists a rare close-up of a space rock that could hold valuable clues to our planet's origins as well as our potential interplanetary future.

On Nov. 8, asteroid 2005 YU55 will come within approximately 201,700 miles of Earth, according to NASA. That's 0.85 the distance from Earth to the moon.

Asteroids often pass this close, but they are too small to spark much interest.

This one is 1,300 feet wide -- the size of an aircraft carrier. The last time an asteroid this big passed by was in 1976; the next one will be in 2028, NASA predicts.

Getty ImagesNASA says a large asteroid will have a close... View Full Size Getty ImagesNASA says a large asteroid will have a close encounter with Earth on Nov. 8. The aircraft carrier-size space rock will pass 201,700 miles from Earth -- closer than the moon's orbit.

Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, Calif., said this flyby is an opportunity to learn more about c-type -- that is, carbon-based -- asteroids in case one is threatening to hit us.

It will also offer "clues as to what it was like when our solar system was forming," Yeomans said.

Asteroids like this one likely delivered organic, carbon-based materials to Earth, enabling life.

"Without objects of this type, we probably wouldn't be here," he said.

Moreover, c-type asteroids could be resources for future space exploration. Because they often contain water resources and the compound that constitutes jet fuel, they could help us build "fuelling stations and watering holes for interplanetary travel," Yeomans said.

This event is particularly exciting to researchers because we can, from the comfort of our planet, study an object we previously have needed to send unmanned spacecraft to study. And we now have the technology to make the most of it, unlike in 1976.

Asteroid 2005 YU55 is roughly spherical, spinning slowly and darker than charcoal, according to past NASA radar observations.

Amateur stargazers can take a look at the asteroid if they have a telescope with an aperture of six inches or larger.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/large-a...d=14865802


Osensitive1

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Re: Large Asteroid to Narrowly Miss Earth Nov. 8
« Reply #1 on: November 02, 2011, 06:00:05 PM »
That's cool. Should follow this up with photos after it happens.

Offline skyblue1

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Re: Large Asteroid to Narrowly Miss Earth Nov. 8
« Reply #2 on: November 02, 2011, 07:25:06 PM »
if it landed in the ocean it would cause an earthquake with a 7.0 magnitude and the resulting tsunami would be 70 meters high

Offline Trigger 11

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Re: Large Asteroid to Narrowly Miss Earth Nov. 8
« Reply #3 on: November 02, 2011, 08:11:42 PM »
 :headbang2:
Crazy, I'm halfway to crazy
Suicide would waste me
Homicide would break me
Tongue tied and tied to the tongue
Tongue tied and tied to the tongue
Oh, is life as bad as dreams
I guess that's just the way it seems

Binty

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Re: Large Asteroid to Narrowly Miss Earth Nov. 8
« Reply #4 on: November 02, 2011, 08:13:51 PM »
A part of me wants it to hit Earth just to see what would happen.

eris

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Re: Large Asteroid to Narrowly Miss Earth Nov. 8
« Reply #5 on: November 02, 2011, 10:10:13 PM »
A part of me wants it to hit Earth just to see what would happen.

I dont think you would see much. It would get really bright outside , then suddenly -

Offline Charlotte Quin

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Re: Large Asteroid to Narrowly Miss Earth Nov. 8
« Reply #6 on: November 03, 2011, 04:52:51 AM »
What if it hits the moon? :orly:

Offline odeon

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Re: Large Asteroid to Narrowly Miss Earth Nov. 8
« Reply #7 on: November 03, 2011, 11:12:46 AM »
The moon would add another crater to its collection.
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."

- Albert Einstein

Offline Adam

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Re: Large Asteroid to Narrowly Miss Earth Nov. 8
« Reply #8 on: November 03, 2011, 04:29:19 PM »
I think it's aliens firing at us

they're getting closer