Blast it or paint it: Deadly asteroid bounds towards Earth out of the blue

Well, it's certainly a possibility. Timing would be about right, too... but there are still a lot of things out there that can hit sooner or later that have not been identified.
 
when was this 2012 DA14 first discovered ?

in 2012 ? is that why it is called like that ?
 
According to the latest updates,

the closest it will come will be around 2020, with an impacht probability of 0,0012%, which is quite low, yet I don't understand why they say 11 months.

source: _http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/2012da14.html
 
It has made it into SotT now: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242487-Newly-Discovered-Asteorid-2012-DA14-could-hit-Earth-in-February-2013
 
If you go to http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2012%20DA14;orb=1;cov=0;log=0;cad=1#cad
you have the calculations for the next year.
2013-Feb-15 19:26UT 0.0001866.... AU, around 28000 km.
 
mkrnhr said:
If you go to http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2012%20DA14;orb=1;cov=0;log=0;cad=1#cad
you have the calculations for the next year.
2013-Feb-15 19:26UT 0.0001866.... AU, around 28000 km.
Click to expand...

Since you know about these things, mkrnhr, what's your opinion? How worried should we be with 28000 km?
 
I think it is hard to predict because of many variables like the gravitional pull that earth and other bodys have on the orbit of the Asteroid.
I guess we have to wait and see how it developes.
and as Laura said there is a pretty good probability that there are much more objects that are as of yet not known that could pose danger to earth
 
To be worried at this point is subjective. We had close misses in the past, only this one is expected. 28000km is a relatively short distance, it's about 7% of the Earth-Moon distance. Remember we had had this close miss last year: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230418-Just-Found-Another-Asteroid-To-Give-Earth-a-Close-Shave-June-27-2011 (4% Lunar distance).
For the moment it is not possible to predict exactly how this object will act close to Earth because of the various gravitational and non-gravitational perturbations. So wait and see as usual.
I would be more worried of unexpected slaps, they tend to be deadlier :)
 
Why does the article tell us nothing can be done about it? Surely there are a number of ways of getting craft up? Russian, France, China, America all have rockets...and there must still be a Shuttle in working order. Two years to build a rocket? If push comes to shove I'm pretty sure we could get something up there in short order.

Just a guess....nobody is worried. Or maybe they already have the capability of "disappearing" the asteroid but aren't telling.

28000km's is close enough to make me sweat.
 
Bo said:
According to the latest updates,

the closest it will come will be around 2020, with an impacht probability of 0,0012%, which is quite low, yet I don't understand why they say 11 months.

source: _http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/2012da14.html
Click to expand...
based on jpl link mkrnhr gave, this article looks like some body is doing damage control. If this asteroid is part of spiralling up comet cluster, the trajectory may change up ( Or probably human consciousness can change, If humans wakeup, though probability is too Low ). As time nears and jpl doesn't manipulate the graph parameters, it will be more clearer.
 
Richard said:
Why does the article tell us nothing can be done about it? Surely there are a number of ways of getting craft up? Russian, France, China, America all have rockets...and there must still be a Shuttle in working order. Two years to build a rocket? If push comes to shove I'm pretty sure we could get something up there in short order.
Click to expand...

I totally agry.

I don't know how the Earth gravity will influence this asteroid. Maybe the Earth gravity could change the orbit of the asteroid. I don't know if there is a probability that the asteroid could hit the moon and if so what would be the consequences of it.

Edit: 'I think that approximate calculation could be done' was deleted. I didn't understad correctly the 'impact probability' :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Trending content

Back
Top Bottom