[Misc] Near-Earth Asteroids

[Zeberdi]

The size of a football pitch, near-Earth Asteroid 2024 YR4 was first spotted by a telescope in Chile. Since the start of January, astronomers have been tracking the asteroid to gauge its size and movement. Initially it was thought to present a 1 in 83 chance of a direct hit now scientists have increased risk to a 1 in 67.

Passed Earth last week and due to return on 22nd December 2032.

Hardly a potential extinction event but could flatten a city and fell a forest or two.

Nuclear weapon could be used to defend Earth from asteroid 2024 YR4, astronomer says

The measure could be taken to divert a space rock being monitored by the European Space Agency, which is expected to cross the planet's orbit in December 2032.

news.sky.com

Asteroids can be tracked live on the Nasa tracking site.

Eyes on Asteroids - NASA/JPL

Explore the 3D world of Asteroids, Comets and NEOs. Learn about past and future missions, tracking and predicting orbits, and close approaches to Earth.

eyes.nasa.gov

Some great background here - The Tunguska event (an asteroid that didn’t even hit Earth but exploded before impact) and DART (Double Asteroid Redirect Test) that trialed hitting an asteroid off it’s trajectory in September 2022.

https://earthsky.org/space/what-is-the-tunguska-explosion/#:~:text=Scientists%20determined%20the%20object%20was,10%20km)%20above%20Earth's%20surface.

 

[BBassic]

Send up Ben Affleck and Bruce Willis.

Or just have Shane Duffy on hand to head it away

 

[Zeberdi]

Send up Ben Affleck and Bruce Willis.

Or just have Shane Duffy on hand to head it away

Ha ha.

Just to put it into perspective, 2004 Y4 is 40-100 metres wide. It would take an asteroid the size of 1,000 metres to cause the collapse of civilisation and 10,000 to cause a mass extinction event

Asteroid danger by the numbers

The risk, characteristics, and rarity of various kinds of asteroid impacts.

www.planetary.org

 

[Bring back Bryan wade!!]

In the unlikely event that it does actually impact earth I am assuming there is a 70% or so chance it lands in water right?..

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

This all assumes civilisation hasn't collapsed already by 2032

 

[Eeyore]

I noticed they have gone quiet over Ulloa's penalty. I'm guessing they don't want to cause civil disturbance

 

[GT49er]

In the unlikely event that it does actually impact earth I am assuming there is a 70% or so chance it lands in water right?..

Tsunami time!

 

[Bozza]

I noticed they have gone quiet over Ulloa's penalty. I'm guessing they don't want to cause civil disturbance

I only opened this thread to make a Ulloa penalty gag, but you've ruined it for me.

Think about that a bit, will you?

 

[Eeyore]

I only opened this thread to make a Ulloa penalty gag, but you've ruined it for me.

Think about that a bit, will you?

I will NOT think about it. Considering I had to TRAWL every post to see if someone had already made it.

 

[Peacehaven Wild Kids]

Hardly a potential extinction event but could flatten a city and fell a forest or two.

Could have done with this on Saturday then.

 

[Zeberdi]

Could have done with this on Saturday then.

 

[Anger]

They could put an end to the process.

 

[Gazwag]

Trump will announce tomorrow he's found somewhere to stick the Palestinians while he rebuilds their strip

 

[Zeberdi]

Trump will announce tomorrow he's found somewhere to stick the Palestinians while he rebuilds their strip

Anywhere along this red line apparently

https://www.graphicnews.com/en/pages/46738/space-freak-asteroid-puts-earth-on-alert

 

[Barham's tash]

Since you wrote your post the odds have halved to 1 in 43 chance or >3% chance of a direct hit.

What if this is what the chat about disclosure is actually about and this is the softening us up for the truth type narrative that we're actually all f***ed and that the efforts of Space X are about starting afresh on Mars as a colony with a remote chance of some facet of the human race being able to survive instead of none after a direct hit?

 

[maffew]

The size of a football pitch, near-Earth Asteroid 2024 YR4 was first spotted by a telescope in Chile. Since the start of January, astronomers have been tracking the asteroid to gauge its size and movement. Initially it was thought to present a 1 in 83 chance of a direct hit now scientists have increased risk to a 1 in 67.

Passed Earth last week and due to return on 22nd December 2032.

Hardly a potential extinction event but could flatten a city and fell a forest or two.



View attachment 196263

Nuclear weapon could be used to defend Earth from asteroid 2024 YR4, astronomer says

The measure could be taken to divert a space rock being monitored by the European Space Agency, which is expected to cross the planet's orbit in December 2032.

news.sky.com

Asteroids can be tracked live on the Nasa tracking site.

Eyes on Asteroids - NASA/JPL

Explore the 3D world of Asteroids, Comets and NEOs. Learn about past and future missions, tracking and predicting orbits, and close approaches to Earth.

eyes.nasa.gov

Some great background here - The Tunguska event (an asteroid that didn’t even hit Earth but exploded before impact) and DART (Double Asteroid Redirect Test) that trialed hitting an asteroid off it’s trajectory in September 2022.

https://earthsky.org/space/what-is-the-tunguska-explosion/#:~:text=Scientists%20determined%20the%20object%20was,10%20km)%20above%20Earth's%20surface.

Thanks for posting the the asteroid tracker link, flipping awesome zooming round that

 

[zefarelly]

This all assumes civilisation hasn't collapsed already by 1982

Well I was hoping it would turn around.

 

[essbee1]

Can asteroids play centre back?

 

[Hugo Rune]

The chances of this rock hitting the earth aren’t huge but they don’t factor in the reality that we have proven technology and engineering to nudge these hazards into orbits that will avoid collision with our planet.

Great headline but it ain’t gonna collide with us.

 

[Zeberdi]

The chances of this rock hitting the earth aren’t huge but they don’t factor in the reality that we have proven technology and engineering to nudge these hazards into orbits that will avoid collision with our planet.

Great headline but it ain’t gonna collide with us.

If you are referring to the thread ‘headline’/title - NEOs or ‘Near-Earth’ is the official name given to space objects/asteroids that are within or set to pass within a certain distance from Earth. There are currently over 11,000 NEOs over 140m being tracked by NASA with 14,000 more to be discovered apparently.


I’m not an astronomer so can’t say that it has NO chance of impact but the risks are high enough not to dismiss the possibility out of hand according to NASA and the European Space Agency.

The links I posted in the OP and follow up post all discuss planetary defence systems and I specifically linked to info about DART so no sensationalist headlines here!

Another here

This asteroid may hit Earth in 2032. Don't panic—scientists have a plan.

Space agencies have systems in place to spot, track, and forecast the future orbits of potentially hazardous asteroids.

www.nationalgeographic.com

I would add another interesting snippet that the size of 2024 y4 is at best a very broad estimate from 40-300 metres because until scientists know what the surface is made of, they don’t know how much of the size impression is down to reflected sunlight from a shiny surface or actual mass.

Another point I picked up on was that asteroids are most visible at the closest distance to earth - this asteroid was not discovered until two days after its closest point when it was already moving past Earth.

I love this stuff!