Bus-Sized Asteroid to Pass Earth Tomorrow

Zip! A small asteroid scoots past the Earth. NASA image.

Asteroid 2015 HD1will make a quick flypast of our planet on Tuesday April 21, just a little under 37,000 miles from the atmosphere. Discovered just recently on April 18, the 12-meter wide rock will hurtle by without crashing (sigh of relief). You can read more information, and watch a live broadcast starting this afternoon, at Space.com:

http://www.space.com/19195-night-sky-planets-asteroids-webcasts.html

Near Miss Asteroid had its own moon

Radar image of Asteroid 2004 BL86 with its small satellite.

The big hunk of rock that zipped by the Earth yesterday morning turns out to have had its own little moon. NASA's Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California took some great radar pictures of the Near-Earth-Orbiting (NEO) asteroids as it made its closest approach to Earth at about 745,000 miles away. That's a little over three times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.

Scientists made good measurements of the asteroid, its moon, and the orbital path around the Sun. The asteroid itself is about 1,100 feet across and the little satellite rock is about 230 feet across. Its current path won't bring it around to us again for a couple hundred years.

Duck and Cover! Here Comes Another One!

Omigosh!  It's coming right for us! OK, maybe not.

NASA says it won't hit us. But what if it does? WHAT IF IT DOES!?!?!?

Of course I'm warning you today about Sunday's imminent arrival of asteroid 2014 RC, which will zoom by the planet at about a distance of 22,000 miles. That's close, man! It's so close that it will pass near the orbital zone of our weather satellites and those way-out there communications satellites. 

NASA asteroid plot projection. See http://www.spaceweather.com/

At the time of close approach, the rock will hurtle over New Zealand at 18:18 UTC (universal time). I'll let you do the conversion math to your own time. I'm at Salt Lake City Comic Con, so I have a waiver from having to do any math in my head today. The rock is about 60 feet long, and was only discovered on August 31 by astronomers in Hawaii. So if you feel a big thump on Sunday, maybe the NASA guys were wrong and New Zealand just got smacked. That would be bad, because they make great movies down there.

Here Comes "The Beast"

NEO Alert!

Recently discovered asteroid 2014 HQ124 is scheduled to pass by the Earth on Sunday, June 8 at a distance of about three times the 720,000 miles (three times the Earth-Moon distance). It wasn't on a lot of people's calendars, since it was only recently spotted on April 23!

Nicknamed "The Beast," the asteroid is about 1,100 feet wide and would pose a significant damage danger IF, indeed, it were to enter our atmosphere. In comparison, the Chelyabinsk asteroid, which exploded over Russia and yet caused city-wide damage and some injuries, was only 20 meters wide!

You can learn more about this event on Space.Com: 

http://www.space.com/19195-night-sky-planets-asteroids-webcasts.html

and JPL Asteroid watch:

http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2014%20HQ124&orb=1

Attack of the Geminids

Take Cover! Space Rocks are entering the atmosphere RIGHT NOW!

It's time for the annual encounter with debris from the comet 3200 Phaethon. Each year, as the Earth revolves around the Sun, we come upon the orbital path taken by the comet, which is considered a "B-Type" asteroid, having a dark surface and still emitting dust and debris as its elliptical orbit (more like a comet than asteroid) brings it closer to the Sun. Its orbit is classed as an Apollo-type, and it orbits out from the Sun farther than the Earth's orbit but regularly crosses our path. Astronomers have linked the debris shed by 3200 Phaethon as the exact objects that encounter the Earth during the Geminid meteor shower each year. You can read more about 3200 Phaeton at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3200_Phaethon .

Geminid meteors will be seen coming from the constellation Gemini. Chart view from Sky and Telescope.com.

If you have the endurance to look for the meteors during this very cold winter blast, look toward the constellation of Gemini. Sky and Telescope Magazine has a nice chart for you at: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/skytel/beyondthepage/234792751.html

The Geminid shower started last night, and according to reports in SpaceWeather.com, the NASA cameras have detected 23 Fireballs over the US so far, and we can expect the shower to last over the next few days. Check out the orbital paths of the debris at: http://www.spaceweather.com/ while he has the images up.

Geminid Fireball from 2011. Credit Mount Washington Valley Astronomy: http://mwvastronomy.net/2011/12/geminid-meteor-shower-dec-13th-14th-2011/

From the Command Bunker: I should be safe from the bombardment here in the SpaceRubble Command Bunker. It's a very rare thing indeed for a home to be hit from a meteorite, but then again, look what just happened to the Russians in Chelyabinsk! I'm afraid I won't be spending Too Much time observing for meteor trails, as the temperature here is far below freezing at night. Yet, if the sky is clear tonight, the peak of the meteor shower is expected Dec. 12-13. Based on the report of fireballs, it seems that the outer space enemy of the Comet Empire still has some life in that old asteroid 3200 Phaeton, and these bombardments can be expected next year and many years after that. Shields Up! 

Another Asteroid Passes close to Earth

Asteroid orbit path comes close to Earth, left of center.

2013 continues to be the Year of the Asteroid Menace. Today a recently-discovered asteroid, 2013 LR6, will approach the Earth's orbit today and pass close by tomorrow. The 50 foot-wide rock will come closer than does the Moon, at about 68,000 miles (the Moon is at about 240,000 miles). That's close in NEO terms (Near Earth Objects). 

Yahoo News has a good article explaining more about this event and a link to watch the approach LIVE: http://news.yahoo.com/asteroid-fly-within-moons-orbit-tomorrow-watch-live-153153909.html

From the SpaceRubble Command Bunker: We often hear that scientists have discovered such-and-such percent of the asteroids that could hit us. Yet rocks such as this one, the recent big one and the Chelyabinsk meteor hit prove that it's the ones you don't see coming that are the true danger to the Earth. And if they aren't seeing all of them, then we really don't have a number we can pin a percentage on, we only have a Wild-a** guess to go on, 'cause who in the heck knows everything that's out there in space!

1998 QE2 Raises Asteroid Awareness

Asteroid 1998 QE2 with its small moon. Radar picture.

Ever since the smacking Russia got earlier this year, the world has been paying more and more attention to the passing of NEOs (Near Earth Objects). Congressional committees have been receiving briefings from NASA. News outlets and space blogs have been covering every passing rock. And NASA has received the goal from the President of traveling to an asteroid, and maybe diverting it to Earth Orbit to study it (anyone else think that may be a bad idea?).

Today at a minute before 3 pm MDT, asteroid 1998 QE2 will pass about 3.6 million miles from the Earth. In space distance terms, that IS close, but in reality, no need for any panicking or worrying. But what makes QE2 so interesting is that radar imaging has discovered that the big hunk of rock has its own orbiting satellite, or moon. The little dude is about 600 meters across, or about 2000 feet.

It's been very cool to see more people paying attention to one of the actual space dangers we could see in our lifetimes. NASA's budget for detection and tracking of NEOs has gone from about $6 million to just about $20 million in 2012. WHile some scientists think that they may have discovered up to 98% of the objects already, this year's collision with the Chelyabinsk asteroid proves that it's the ones you DON'T see that are the trouble-makers.

Danger! Asteroid and Solar Flares (not really)!

Orbital path of QE2.

I love the name of this asteroid: QE2. Asteroid 1998 QE2 is expected to fly by the Earth on the last day of May. The headlines read: "Huge Asteroid to Fly Past Earth this Month." Although you can tell we're not in danger from the title, its still sounds more ominous than the truth: "Large asteroid won't come near us." Of course that doesn't sound as cool. What IS cool, though, is that QE2 has a diameter of 9 times the length of the famous Queen Elizabeth 2 Ocean liner. SO it IS way bigger than, say, the rock that slammed into Russia this year. But, and this is a BIG BUT, it will fly past us about 3.6 million miles away. That's pretty distant for Near Earth Objects. AND... AND... scientists will get a GOOD look at its surface. SO that's pretty neat. And I love it that people are paying attention.

Solar Flare emitted from Sun today.

I also love it that the news guys are paying attention to Solar Weather! TOday, we are being side-swiped by a pretty large burst of Solar radiation and particles which erupted from the Sun on the 15th. Folks living north of latitude 40 degrees might get some cool Northern Lights. As for me, naw, it's raining here at the command bunker in Utah. But another flare erupted today, and this one is pointed right at us. As with all solar storms, the radiation and particles can play havoc with our satellites and astronauts high up in orbit, so here's hoping our shields (Earth's Magnetic Field) will do its job and protect us.

More on solar conditions at SpaceWeather.com: http://www.spaceweather.com/

More on QE2 at JPL: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-163

More Incoming Rocks & Snowballs

Asteroid at Center marked by cross hairs. Credit G. Masi and F. Nocentini.

Here comes another one! No need to fear though, they come and go all the time. This weekend it's visitor asteroid 2013 ET, passing us at about 380,000+ miles. It was only discovered on March 3 (picture above taken March 7). This brings up a good point about how important it is for our space programs to develop a better method for identifying these hurtling Earth-crashers far earlier, and having a defense ready to divert them or something. 2013 ET is set to pass by Saturday afternoon and is about the width of a football field. Bigger than the one that recently exploded above Russia. You can participate on a video webcast covering the passage. Check out Space.com's article here:

http://www.space.com/20126-asteroid-2013et-flyby-webcasts.html

Comet PANSTARRS as seen from Australia (NASA image)

Finally, we get to see a fairly visible comet! It's been a while. This one is comet PANSTARRS (2011 L4) which was discovered in 2011. It has recently become visible to the naked eye, and has just started to cross the hemispheric view into the northern hemisphere, so we can try spotting it from Utah (barring this drastic winter weather). Here's the link to NASA's page on viewing PANSTARRS:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/asteroids/news/comet20130307.html

Happy viewing!

Russia gets Smacked with Meteor Debris!

Remaining trail of meteor re-entering Earth's atmosphere (From RIA Novosti)

While most of us slept in America, on the other side of the world Russia came close to a tragedy. Unexpectedly hurtling out of the sky, a piece of the solar system weighing perhaps 10 tons came burning through the air and then exploded above the ground. Traffic cameras recorded the brighter-than-day flashes of the meteor as pieces came off and then a blinding burst of light as the meteor exploded and showered the area with fragments.

Closer view of smokey trail over Chelyabinsk. (from RIA Novosti)

RIA Novosti reports that children skating in the covered ice rinks grabbed their skates and ran from the building when the ceiling girders were shaking. Shockwaves from the supersonic booms and final explosion shook the ground, buildings, and burst windows. Russia is reporting that about 500 people were injured, many from shattering glass, and that about three dozen people were hospitalized. Initial reports said that the object exploded as close as 18 miles up, but when you see the video on TV it's obvious it came much closer to the surface before exploding.

Window shattered by sonic booms. (RIA Novosti)

It's also reported that fragments have been seen about 20 centimeters across. No doubt meteorite experts and hunters will be swarming the area with scientists and reporters as this remarkable event is investigated and documented. It will be very interesting to see what information we gain from this close call.

It was obvious to me right from the start of reporting that this was in NOW WAY related to the close pass of asteroid 2012 DA14 coming around noon Mountain Standard Time today. THAT asteroid is coming from a completely different direction, and neither it  nor pieces of it could possibly hit Russia. Yet we've already had some reporters and commenters asking if this is the same event.

And now a word from the Bunker...

Just What Does IT Take to wake up our civilization to the idea that we could actual experience an asteroid collision in our lifetime? Not long ago we have TWICE seen comets smack into Jupiter with incredible destructive effects that disrupted regions the SIZE OF THE EARTH! We know from geologic records that asteroids occasionally hit the Earth, and sometimes they have been BIG ones that destroyed some species and caused terrible climate change on the Earth. Forget the "Anthropogenic Global Warming" schtick. This kind of change will happen without warning, unless we spend the resources necessary to develop better space radar, targeting systems, and defenses to protect from small (and enormous) strikes. What if this rock had been a bit bigger? What if it had survived re-entry to actually smack into the ground, or more likely burst above a city close enough to kill people and cause city-wide damage? Not long ago a near-hit exploding in the atmosphere triggered nuclear attack alarms in Russia, and could have led to an accidental nuclear retaliation! (Of course, it wouldn't hurt that building a defensive system would be cool, put more humans in space, sorry, my humans-in-space bias coming through now) In this war against the real Comet Empire, score one for the enemy which hurtles giant rocks at us...

This will be Close!

Looking over the shoulder of asteroid 2012 DA14. In the center of the view is our home. This would be the view from the asteroid today, February 14. It will be a much closer view tomorrow!

Asteroid 2012 DA14 is in the news this week, because of its extremely close approach to the Earth. At its closest approach, it will be just about 17,000 miles above the country of Indonesia at 12:25 pm MST. So while you're having your lunch break tomorrow, spare a few minutes to think about how blessed we are that this is just a near-miss. Perhaps ponder on the prehistoric hits that cause the extinctions of dinosaurs or other species. And consider that it is still entirely possible that yet some future asteroid, unknown to us at present could smack us a good one with dire consequences.

But not this one! DA14 is going to pass so close that it will fly inside the ring of geosynchronous satellites, prompting some alarmists to fear disruption to our communications satellites. However, the Space Data Association and NASA have calculated the trajectory of the rock and determined that it will not come any closer than 1,000 km to any space satellite. You can read more of their calculations here: http://spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=40087

Calculated path of the asteroid. Times are Greenwhich Mean Time. Looking down over the North Pole. Notice the effect of gravity upon the asteroid's path. 

DA14 is approaching Earth from the Southern Hemisphere, so observers in the northern countries won't be able to observe it until it is right on us and passing by. You can learn more about DA14, and see more trajectory calculations and videos at NASA's website: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/asteroidflyby.html

Missed Me! Missed Me!

Asteroid Toutatis radar images.

This last week saw a flurry of asteroid watch action as several rocky bodies passed close to the Earth. Well, relatively speaking.  On December 11, not one but THREE asteroids made scientists take notice. 

Zip! There it goes! 2012 XE54 is spotted.

First on the list was 2012 XE54, a small bodied rock about 36 meters in size, passed within the Earth-Moon distance, a little over 60% of the distance. Not Earth-shattering, but big enough to possibly cause a Tunguska-like event if it had hit us. Scary note here: this was a recently-discovered asteroid, which shows you that there are dangerous steroids out there that we DON'T know about yet.

Next up was 2012 XL55, about half the size of XE54, but it wasn't as close... just a mere 4.2 times the distance from Earth to Moon (which itself is 240,000+ miles away). And on it's heels was 2009 BS5, just a little bit smaller, but twice as far away.

Then came the big show on the 12th. Asteroid 4179 Toutatis is an old friend, first discovered in 1934. It has a somewhat erratic orbit that actually crosses the orbit of Mars as well as Earth's, and is influenced by the gravity of Jupiter. It comes closer to earth about every four years. Radar images show it to be like a peanut shell in shape, with two lobes. It's greatest length is about 4.2 kilometers, making rather large actually.  On December 13th, a Chinese space probe made a close pass to Toutatis. You can find all about that encounter here on SpaceRef: http://spaceref.com/asteroids/chinas-change-2-does-close-flyby-of-asteroid-toutatis.html

Toutatis came by at about 18 Lunar Distances. It is expected to make a really close pass in 2069!

Here comes another one!

It's Duck and Cover time!

While most of us were sleeping, a chunk of rock about 20 meters across zipped by Earth on its way around the Solar System. The asteroid, designated 2012 TC4 was estimated to pass by our planet rather close, at about 1/4 the distance from the Earth to the Moon, or about 96,000 kilometers (about 59,000 miles).

Time-elapsed picture of 2012 TC4. Picture by Remanzacco Observatory.

For more comet and asteroid updates, check the blog of the Associazionie Friulana di Astronomia e Meteorologia: http://remanzacco.blogspot.it/2012/10/close-approach-of-asteroid-2012-tc4.html.

Notes from the Command Bunker: This NEO, or Near Earth Object, demonstrates the need we have for continued research of Earth-orbit-crossing-asteroids. It was only discovered on October 7! What if we had also discovered that it was on a collision course with a major city? Write to your member of the House of Representatives and urge them to demand that Congress and NASA allocate more funding for discovery and analysis of NEO's.