Another Huge Asteroid to Fly Past Earth July 3

Appollynon

Appollynon

Jedi Master
Hi everyone. Id just been doing a little light scanning of the news sites as I do before I start work and found yet another asteroid story from yahoo.


An asteroid possibly as large as a half-mile or more in diameter is rapidly approaching the Earth. There is no need for concern, for no collision is in the offing, but the space rock will make an exceptionally close approach to our planet early on Monday, July 3, passing just beyond the Moon's average distance from Earth.

Astronomers will attempt to get a more accurate assessment of the asteroid's size by "pinging" it with radar.

Astronomers will attempt to get a more accurate assessment of the asteroid's size by "pinging" it with radar.


And skywatchers with good telescopes and some experience just might be able to get a glimpse of this cosmic rock as it streaks rapidly past our planet in the wee hours Monday. The closest approach occurs late Sunday for U.S. West Coast skywatchers.


The asteroid, designated 2004 XP14, was discovered on Dec. 10, 2004 by the Lincoln Laboratory Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR), a continuing camera survey to keep watch for asteroids that may pass uncomfortably close to Earth.


Although initially there were concerns that this asteroid might possibly impact Earth later this century and thus merit special monitoring, further analysis of its orbit has since ruled out any such collision, at least in the foreseeable future.


Size not known


Asteroid 2004 XP14 is a member of a class of asteroids known as Apollo, which have Earth-crossing orbits. The name comes from 1862 Apollo, the first asteroid of this group to be discovered. There are now 1,989 known Apollos.
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Link to the article here http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060626/sc_space/hugeasteroidtoflypastearthjuly3

I think I need to do more research on astronomical phenomena such as asteroids and comets before I can claim to have a more full understanding of how they work, but I find two things about this article extremely odd.

1- The article states that

Although initially there were concerns that this asteroid might possibly impact Earth later this century and thus merit special monitoring, further analysis of its orbit has since ruled out any such collision, at least in the foreseeable future.
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I find it odd how they seem to have analysed the orbit of this asteroid and what course it is on, without having a clue about its actual size, mass of density. Would they not have needed to have spotted this object in the first place to make an assumption about its orbit? (which may give them some clue about it size or make up from the very act of spotting it out and identifying it)

2- I have never before hear of Apollo classed asteroids which are classified as such due to their Earth-crossing orbits. Its the first time I have seen this information mentioned in a MSM piece about near-earth objects. The fact that there are also some 2,000 named suggests to me that there are probably many more such objects that have not been found and also have an Earth-crossing orbit. My immediate reaction to this was to think "Hmmm...could these objects be a veiled reference to the cyclical comet shower Laura and Velikovsky have talked about at some length"? Probably not, although it could be a form of low level programming readying us for some bigger announcements to come...and hot on the heels of the last fractured asteroid to pass close to the Earth and Moon just a few weeks ago.

My general feeling is that there are lots of these things now being discovered/talked about in the mainstream (at least more than I can remember being talked about and reported on than any time previously in the last 10-15yrs). I know that nothing appears in the MSM media unless the PTB want it to to serve some part of their own agendas, so when they talk about such things in the mainstream it gives me a bit of a shock to see the correlation with "The Work" done here and the facts and evidence are increasingly mounting up in my mind.
 
According to NASA at Spaceweather.com the asteroid is designated X14 and is 600 meters long with a brightness of magnitude 11-and should be visible through small backyard telescopes. It's distance will be slightly less than the orbit of the moon (hey-did anyone check to make sure the MOON won't get smacked?)

The ephemeral plots for the orbit and those of other near Earth objects can be found at:

http://spaceweather.com

You can sign up for free e-mail notices and get heads up on all kinds of goodies (as much as they will tell us anyway)
 
AP: Hubble Telescope Main Camera Not Working

The main camera on the Hubble Space Telescope, which has revolutionized astronomy with its stunning pictures of the universe, has stopped working, engineers who work on the camera said Saturday.
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Coincidence? maybe they are getting nice shots of 2004 XP14.
and by the way, checking the reaction of a near encounter with a big stone.
 
Just to get an idea of how BIG...I did a little looking for comparison-

The U.S.S. Nimitz-classified as a super aircraft carrier-is 333 meters (1,092 feet) long-this rock is 600 meters long-or 1, 968 feet long-as big as the aircraft carrier PLUS a destroyer follwing behind it (I was on a destroyer in the 70's and they were approximately 435 feet long or around 133 meters) and another craft somewhat smaller.

This thing is no mere pebble-and who knows what it's speed is? But something that size slamming into anything at let us say 10, 000 kph is going to release a whole bunch of destructive energy...they say it isn't going to hit us (this time...)

Wheee! Isn't learning FUN!
 
Ru-u-u-n!! No, sorry, I mean Fu-u-u-n!! :)

(sorry for a little fun, just saw a perfect opportunity ;) )
I've read once a real "gem" on some "ufo theme" site. The writer offered a perfect approach or behavior when you encounter an UFO: "Run like hell!!" (not run for your life like I said earlier) I think it sums it up.
 
Kinda hard to run from something that will affect the entire planet...or would it?
 
Me again-more fun-

I did a little more digging and went to a neat little website I have visited before to "get the lowdown" on things astronomical-a site called "Phils Bad Astronomy" which can be found here:

http://www.badastronomy.com

and Phil actually has a cool little computer for figuring out the amount of energy released by an asteroid impact!

You can enter the material (rock, iron, ice) the radius of your missle and the realtive "theoretical" speed of the inbound in kilometers per second (11 according to Phil would be the minimum speed-the escape velocity of the Earth-I'm taking his word for all of this, I am not a math wiz)-the little computer program figures out the density based on the selected material and using your input for speed and radius-voila! Calculates the energy released in megatons.

O.K.-Let us say our little inbound is made mostly of iron (a fair assumption)-and is roughly 300 meters in radius (NASA said it is 600 meters-but does not say if object is spherical-which it probably is not-it is more than likely ellipsoidal-but I digress from fun)

If our asteroid is 300 meters in radius, and made of iron-it's density is 7grams per cubic centimeter-so the over all mass of the thing is 395,840, 674 metric tons...and traveling at the minimum velocity would yield upon impact with the BBM (Big Blue Marble)

Ding! 11, 974 Megatons! One megaton is equal to one MILLION tons of TNT. The largest bomb (allegedly, and again according to Phil) ever exploded is 57 megatons.

That would be one big bang folks....
 
Well, I am offering you even more FUN!
Take a look at this simulation of meteorite collision.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JHdYBet_4Q&eurl=
I am used to graphic effects, but this movie gave me a real chill. This is NOT the kind of fun I would want to experience, even a small version of it.
 
Hi Keit-

Awesome video-but that thing looks pretty big to be called a meteor! More like a small moon!

Some Asian script charecters flashed on the screen while the video was playing, which I could not read - I was thinking it might be something like " BOOM!"

Yes-that would be pretty awful. Not only the impact, but prior to the impact there would be a compression wave as the air gets pushed out ahead of the object-not to mention the sonic boom(s) as air rushes into the void in the asteroids wake.

The impact of a sizeable object would also trigger effects on the adipose side of the globe (opposite side) since the shock would be transmitted through the core and mantle-it might set off earthquakes and volcanoes-and if the thing lands in water there would be tsunamis of epic proportions...are we close to inventing a nice big force field???!!!
 
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