Massive asteroid passing Earth this morning

[Wanker]

By: Peter Edwards Star Reporter, Published on Mon Jan 26 2015
An asteroid that’s 17 times the size of the Rogers Centre will be zipping by Earth late this morning, close enough for you to see it with a store-bought telescope or binoculars.

It’s a safe and relatively rare chance to see the hunk of rogue rock called 2004 BL86,.

“I may grab my favorite binoculars and give it a shot myself,” Don Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near Earth Object Program Office in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement.

The closest approach is expected at 11:19 a.m. Toronto time.

“Asteroids are something special,” Yeomans said. “Not only did asteroids provide Earth with the building blocks of life and much of its water, but in the future, they will become valuable resources for mineral ores and other vital natural resources. They will also become the fueling stops for humanity as we continue to explore our solar system. There is something about asteroids that makes me want to look up.”

The next time you can look up and see an asteroid fly this close to Earth won’t be until 2027, NASA says. (For those of you keeping track, that asteroid is called 199 AN10.)

You don’t have to hide in the basement or put on a helmet, as 2004 BL86 isn’t expected to get any closer than 1.2 million kilometres from Earth.


https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/01/26/massive-asteroid-passing-earth-this-morning.html

 

[Madman]

It was all a misunderstanding, it wasn't an asteroid at all. It was really one of Chunky's girlfriends that's all! Mother earth is safe unless of course she has gas.

 

[Al Bumin]

I missed it, who saw it?.

 

[bobistheowl]

You don’t have to hide in the basement or put on a helmet, as 2004 BL86 isn’t expected to get any closer than 1.2 million kilometres from Earth...

1.2 Million kilometers is about three times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. There was a smaller asteroid last year that came closer to the Earth than orbiting communication satellites.

The odds of an asteroid hitting the Earth and causing significant damage are about as high as if you threw 100 dice in the air, and all of them came up with the number 1 on top. You have a better chance of winning the Lotto Max two weeks in a row, with single quick pick tickets. That can happen, but usually only about once every hundred million years or so. Most of the asteroids that were going to hit the Earth already did. They aren't making any new asteroids, but sometimes they collide in space, and break into smaller parts, and the people who will be born in a few million years will have something to worry about, but they don't know that yet.

 

[Boing]

1.2 Million kilometers is about three times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. There was a smaller asteroid last year that came closer to the Earth than orbiting communication satellites.

The odds of an asteroid hitting the Earth and causing significant damage are about as high as if you threw 100 dice in the air, and all of them came up with the number 1 on top. You have a better chance of winning the Lotto Max two weeks in a row, with single quick pick tickets. That can happen, but usually only about once every hundred million years or so. Most of the asteroids that were going to hit the Earth already did. They aren't making any new asteroids, but sometimes they collide in space, and break into smaller parts, and the people who will be born in a few million years will have something to worry about, but they don't know that yet.

You ruined the party.

 

[oldguyzer]

1.2 Million kilometers is about three times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. There was a smaller asteroid last year that came closer to the Earth than orbiting communication satellites.

The odds of an asteroid hitting the Earth and causing significant damage are about as high as if you threw 100 dice in the air, and all of them came up with the number 1 on top. You have a better chance of winning the Lotto Max two weeks in a row, with single quick pick tickets. That can happen, but usually only about once every hundred million years or so. Most of the asteroids that were going to hit the Earth already did. They aren't making any new asteroids, but sometimes they collide in space, and break into smaller parts, and the people who will be born in a few million years will have something to worry about, but they don't know that yet.

You ruined the party.

Not only did he ruin the party, he's wrong, too. Surprised?

 

[Wanker]

Not only did he ruin the party, he's wrong, too. Surprised?

How is he wrong?.

 

[Cardinal Fang]

I missed it, who saw it?.

I would have seen it if I didn't duck.

 

[oldguyzer]

I would have seen it if I didn't duck.

If you didn't duck, then you saw it?

 

[Cardinal Fang]

But I did duck so the point is moot.

 

[oldguyzer]

But I did duck so the point is moot.

No, you said, if you had ducked, you would not have seen it. You didn't say you DID duck :biggrin2:

 

[Guido]

Here's a pic from NASA

Fucking NASholes!

:biggrin2:

Bito, what about lightening?? What are the chances of being hit by lightening standing under a tree holding onto to a set of keys??

 

[papasmerf]

:biggrin2:

Bito, what about lightening?? What are the chances of being hit by lightening standing under a tree holding onto to a set of keys??

If I can choose the tree and have a couple of hours of prep work..................I can take the element of chance out of this one

 

[Guido]

If I can choose the tree and have a couple of hours of prep work..................I can take the element of chance out of this one

You don't have time! You should be in the kitchen making a kick ass lasagna and side fixings!

 

[papasmerf]

You don't have time! You should be in the kitchen making a kick ass lasagna and side fixings!

Today will be something simple

Maybe a Alfredo with Chicken

 

[papasmerf]

Your version of ducking! Disgusting!

Just how many ducks have you "done" this week alone?!

no wonder the butcher said the Ducks were a bit dodgy this week

 

[peace]

Not dodgy at all.

 

[bobistheowl]

:biggrin2:

Bito, what about lightening?? What are the chances of being hit by lightening standing under a tree holding onto to a set of keys??

The tree would be more likely to be hit. Lightning is attracted to metals that conduct electricity, or are magnetic, (like iron, nickel, copper, cobalt, etc.), but also usually strikes the tallest object in the area. That's why the CN Tower in Toronto gets hit so often.

Golfers who get hit by lightning are usually carrying a metallic gold club, and are standing out in the open, so they're the tallest object in the area, and they have the metal, to attract the lightning. It's not safe to stand under the tree, because the lighting might strike the tree, and the falling tree strikes you. You shouldn't swim during lightning, either, because if lightning strikes the water, it will spread and diffuse, so it doesn't need to hit you, it just needs to hit close enough, to knock you out or disorient you, and you drown, instead of being fried. It's still dead.


I was almost hit by lightning once, when I was about fifteen.

There was a graveyard near my home, but they couldn't use most of the area, because there was a rock shelf about three feet under the ground, that they didn't know about, when they built the graveyard, so it was all congested in the front area, then there was a flat area about 100 X 100 yards, but we weren't allowed to play sports on the field. There was a baseball diamond a block away, and two football fields at the high school a mile away, so we didn't need to play football in the graveyard.

During thunderstorms, the ground would become saturated with water quickly, and additional water would accumulate on top of the grass, so we'd run quickly, then dive forward, and 'hydroplane' for about fifteen feet, on the 'layer' of water on top of the grass.

One time I was just about to dive forward, and a bolt of lightning hit, just above the ground, about three feet in front of me. At that range, it was about eighteen inches wide, but surprisingly, not as loud, as one would expect. Most people don't know this, but lightning also has a smell, sort of a 'sickly sweet ozone' smell, that lasts for a couple of seconds.

It didn't stop me from continuing to play. It was startling, but not frightening, because it was over before I would have had time to be scared.

 

[bobistheowl]

I would have seen it if I didn't duck.

I don't think Cardinal Fang does duck. He just likes to read about other people ducking, and make jokes about bills and webbed feet. He's probably one of those born again ducklings, or those guys who wear the plastic ring from a six pack of beer on their wrist, to show other people that they don't admit to ducking. Maybe he gets some pieces of bread tossed to him occasionally, or a left over bait minnow, out of sympathy, but I think he's mostly all quack, and decoy.

He might do peacocks, or peacock feathers.

 

[papasmerf]