Interesting Asteroid coming Feb 15th

[rynnor]

Asteroid 2012 DA14 - 50 odd metres accross 130 thousand tonnes estimated will come very close (inside the geo stationary satellites orbit) on Feb 15th.

It crosses the earths orbit every 6 months - theres no chance of an impact on that date but coming so very close to the earth then will alter its orbit for future passes.

Its the closest pass I have seen for a decent sized asteroid that was actually spotted before it passed.

 

[old.user4556]

Yeah I mentioned this in another thread, an interesting one for sure and I expect the astronomy forums to be buzzing closer to the time.

 

[Job]

That's seriously fuckin close for something of that size, what megaton impact would that be if it decided to hit next time?

edit: about the same as the famous Russian one, around 10 megatons, no great shakes in the wilderness, but catastrophic over a city.

 

[rynnor]

That's seriously fuckin close for something of that size, what megaton impact would that be if it decided to hit next time?

edit: about the same as the famous Russian one, around 10 megatons, no great shakes in the wilderness, but catastrophic over a city.

Tunguska was an airburst though - not a direct impact so probably not comparable.

 

[TdC]

wiki says approx 2.4 MT

 

[rynnor]

wiki says approx 2.4 MT

It does depend on a few unknowns like its actual mass and its relative velocity though.

 

[Raven]

I'm more interested in what NASA have found

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/...ars-discovery-secret-20121121,0,2338438.story

 

[TdC]

wiki says approx 2.4 MT

so...15psi overpressure raduis is about 2 miles. if that thing hit my city everything would be gone.

 

[Job]

well it says the atmosphere will disintegrate anything under 100m, so it will probably be an air burst.

 

[old.user4556]

I'd love to see that.

I also want to see Betelgeuse go supernova. I was watching it last night as i froze my ass off photographing aurora, it's brightness is so variable just now.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/01/21/betelgeuse-and-2012/

 

[TdC]

woo how'd those pics go for you Big G?

 

[old.user4556]

Shite.

I photographed it when it was KP2, but it was KP5 last night and most of us Scotland resident saw hee-haw. Looks like space weather is even more difficult to predict than normal weather.

 

[TdC]

boo sucks man though that space weather remark is now in the quotes database

 

[old.user4556]

This is as good as it got, you can see the very faint green glow in behind the cloud in the distance.

 

[TdC]

still, not a bad pic mate. you using any kind of graduated filter there?

 

[old.user4556]

Nah, mostly out the camera, slight contrast tweak

 

[old.user4556]

Nah, mostly out the camera, slight contrast tweak

 

[Lamp]

Betelgeuse might not go supernova for another 10,000 years. Or it might go next Tuesday afternoon, 4pm. Will be a sight to behold when it does go. Would be nice to see it in our lifetimes.