Safeway-size asteroid to get closer to Earth than satellites

Comcast used to have NASA TV too but dropped it.

Ya know, I'm beginning to wonder about this event. In nearly every report is is stressed that it won't hit Earth....

Get your bat out to hit it, and I'll get my glove to catch it.

Latest:

Feb. 14, 2013: For eons, Earth has felt the tremors of asteroids striking our planet. From the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago to the felled forests around Tunguska in 1908, the space rocks keep coming. This week, Earth strikes back. When asteroid 2014 DA14 makes a record close approach to our planet on Feb. 15th, the space rock could be the one feeling tremors.
New research by Richard Binzel, a professor of planetary science at MIT, suggests that many near-Earth asteroids experience a seismic jolt when they pass too close to our planet’s gravitational field

Source: Possible Seismic Activity on Asteroid 2012 DA14 - NASA Science

In less than 24 hours, a 150 foot-wide asteroid will complete a remarkably close but safe flyby. For weeks, scientists have been tracking the path of the small near-Earth asteroid known as 2012 DA14, which is on course to swing by the Earth on Friday at 2:24 p.m. EST/11:24 a.m. PST.

Again, no need for panic about a collision with Earth, which would be, in a word, catastrophic. If a space rock of this magnitude crashed into us, scientists say that it would release about 2.5 megatons of energy in the atmosphere. The last time an asteroid this since smacked into the Earth was in 1908 in Tuguska, Siberia. That rock, which actually was a bit smaller than 2012 DA14, took out about 750 square miles of forest near what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia.

Still, the uniqueness of this event promises to be a major news event as 2012 DA14 will pass inside the band of weather and communications satellites which orbit the earth, some 22,200 miles above the planet's surface. At its closest point, the flyby will get as close as 17,150 miles above the Earth and constitute the closest approach for a known object of this size.

In the runup to the big event, here's a cheat sheet to get you prepared:

Read more at source:

Everything you need to know for Friday's big asteroid flyby | Cutting Edge - CNET News

Shawn, I like that animated visibility plot near the bottom of the article.

• At it nearest point, the asteroid will be over the eastern Indian Ocean, off the island of Sumatra.

Gary, get your bat out, if it would break up we'd be on the Western edge of the debris field.

I have been supposing an asteroid traveling so fast it could enter our atmosphere and pass on through without impact. At a high enough altitude it would not get hot enough to explode or burn up. Imagine the sonic boom that would make. And a good show.

FuturDreamz said:

z3r010 said:

Britton30 said:

So much for missing earth:
Meteorite falls near Russian border, injuring 100 - World - CBC News

That's not the big one, but does seem a bit much of a coincidence.

I have been supposing an asteroid traveling so fast it could enter our atmosphere and pass on through without impact. At a high enough altitude it would not get hot enough to explode or burn up. Imagine the sonic boom that would make. And a good show.

It is a possibility that 2012 DA14 will have "companions" traveling along with it.
Before, during, and after its encounter with Earth.

My thoughts, and prayers go out to, not only to those people in the Chelyabinsk region, but for all of us.

What are the odds of having a video cam running to catch this? Starts at 0:09 in.



All I can say is WOW!