woody with a view
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15939
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
Member Is Offline
Mood: Everchangin'
|
|
Asteriod passing close to Baja today
An asteroid the size of a city block is set to fly by Earth Thursday (June 14), and you may be able to watch it happen live.
The near-Earth asteroid 2012 LZ1, which astronomers think is about 1,650 feet (500 meters) wide, will come within 14 lunar distances of Earth Thursday
evening. While there's no danger of an impact on this pass, the huge space rock may come close enough to be caught on camera.
That's what the team running the Slooh Space Camera thinks, anyway. The online skywatching service will train a telescope on the Canary Islands on
2012 LZ1 and stream the footage live, beginning at 8:00 p.m. EDT Thursday (0000 GMT Friday).
You can watch the asteroid flyby on Slooh's website, at events.slooh.com.
2012 LZ1 just popped onto astronomers' radar this week. It was discovered on the night of June 10-11 by Rob McNaught and his colleagues, who were
peering through the Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia.
Researchers estimate that the space rock is between 1,000 and 2,300 feet wide (300-700 m). On Thursday evening, it will come within about 3.35 million
miles (5.4 million kilometers) of our planet, or roughly 14 times the distance between Earth and the moon.
Because of its size and proximity to Earth, 2012 LZ1 qualifies as a potentially hazardous asteroid. Near-Earth asteroids generally have to be at least
500 feet (150 m) wide and come within 4.65 million miles (7.5 million km) of our planet to be classified as potentially hazardous.
2012 LZ1 is roughly the same size as asteroid 2005 YU55, which made a much-anticipated flyby of Earth last November. But 2005 YU55 gave our planet a
much closer shave, coming within 202,000 miles (325,000 km) of us on the evening of Nov. 8. A space rock as big as 2005 YU55 hadn't come so close to
Earth since 1976, researchers said.
Astronomers have identified nearly 9,000 near-Earth asteroids, but they think many more are out there, waiting to be discovered.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/06/14/huge-asteroid-to-f...
|
|
|
Ateo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5917
Registered: 7-18-2011
Member Is Offline
|
|
Calling Astrobaja................
These near earth asteroids are interesting. Supposedly we've mapped most of the large ones that could destroy all life on earth, or at least we'd
discover them in time to possibly do something about 'em.
But the smaller ones that could wipe out a city are still unknown. Imagine if one of these small asteroids just annihilated San Diego today?? That
would suck, to say the least...............
|
|
|
cj5orion
Nomad
Posts: 336
Registered: 2-6-2010
Location: Pacific Beach/Gonzaga Bay
Member Is Offline
Mood: time for a cervaza !!!
|
|
hey woody
what website are ya using for the Astronomy info ?
Home Remodels/Builds..Recession!
Gone BAJA BUILDIN/FISHIN !
|
|
|
woody with a view
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15939
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
Member Is Offline
Mood: Everchangin'
|
|
check out stellarium for a cool star gazer program that you can set your location anywhere and see what those bright lights are up above. other than
that, i'm pretty flexible in where i find my news!
edit: it looks like the asteroid missed!
[Edited on 6-15-2012 by woody with a view]
|
|
|
cj5orion
Nomad
Posts: 336
Registered: 2-6-2010
Location: Pacific Beach/Gonzaga Bay
Member Is Offline
Mood: time for a cervaza !!!
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by woody with a view
check out stellarium for a cool star gazer program that you can set your location anywhere and see what those bright lights are up above. other than
that, i'm pretty flexible in where i find my news!
edit: it looks like the asteroid missed!
[Edited on 6-15-2012 by woody with a view] |
YEA....THANX ! thats what I've been lookin for.
Home Remodels/Builds..Recession!
Gone BAJA BUILDIN/FISHIN !
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
