Near-Earth objects and close calls

[Ca.]

NASA chief warns meteors are a threat to the planet | CNN

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine this week warned that meteors are a threat to the planet.

edition.cnn.com

Updated 0703 GMT (1503 HKT) May 1, 2019 Video / Duration Time 2:34
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine this week warned that meteors are a threat to the planet.

"This is not about Hollywood. It's not about movies. This is about ultimately protecting the only planet we know right now to host life," he said Monday, speaking at the Planetary Defense Conference in Washington D.C.

Bridenstine talked about a February 2013 meteor that exploded over Russia. That meteor blast shook Russia's Urals region. More than 1,000 people were injured, including more than 200 children, according to news reports. Many people were hit by flying glass when windows shattered from the sonic boom that followed the meteor's explosion.

"It was brighter in the sky than the sun at that point when it entered Earth's atmosphere. And people could feel the heat from this object from 62 kilometers away," Bridenstine said.

"When it finally exploded 18 miles above the surface...it had...30 times the energy of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima," he said, adding it "damaged buildings in six cities."

More than 4,000 buildings, mostly apartment blocks, were damaged and 200,000 square meters (77,220 square miles) of glass were broken, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported then, citing the Chelyabinsk regional emergencies ministry.

"I wish I could tell you these events are exceptionally unique, but they are not," Bridenstine said.

He said NASA's modeling shows similar events will happen once every 60 years.

| EarthSky

Astronomers are meeting today at the Planetary Defense Conference to discuss plans to observe asteroid 99942 Apophis, a relatively large asteroid that'll sweep past Earth safely - but rather closely - in 2029.

earthsky.org

April 30, 2019
Snip / 8-10 minute read:
Asteroid Apophis – unfortunately named for an ancient Egyptian “lord of chaos” – has been known since 2004. It is a near-Earth object (NEO); that is, its orbit – which is less than one earthly year long – brings it near Earth periodically. This asteroid caused a brief period of concern shortly after its discovery in 2004. When relatively few observations of its orbit were in hand – and thus its orbit wasn’t known with much certainty – there was, for a time, a probability of up to 2.7% that it would hit Earth on April 13, 2029. That possibility became lower and lower as astronomers used both optical and radar telescopes to track Apophis over subsequent years, and got a better understanding of its orbit. A strike in 2029 was entirely ruled out during a 2013 pass of the asteroid. Still, in 2004, during its time of infamy as an asteroid that might strike Earth, Apophis set the record for the highest rating on the Torino scale, reaching level 4 on by the end of that year.

 

[angelburst29]

Giant asteroid expected to fly close to Earth on Friday the 13th in 10 years: Nasa

99942 Apophis is expected to approach the Earth dangerously close on April 13, 2029. But there is no need to worry as the asteroid will be about 31,000km away from the surface of the Earth.PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM NASA VIDEO/YOUTUBE

May 5, 2019 - An asteroid named 99942 Apophis will fly towards the Earth in ten years, US space agency Nasa said.

The colossal asteroid, which is named after the Egyptian god of chaos and destruction, is expected to approach the Earth dangerously close on April 13, 2029, according to the latest data from Nasa, Xinhua reported.

But there is no need to worry as it will be about 31,000km away from the surface of the Earth.

Nasa said it is relatively rare for such a large object to pass so close to Earth and it will offer asteroid scientists around the world a great opportunity to conduct a close-up study of the Apophis’ shape, composition and possibly even its interior.

“The Apophis close approach in 2029 will be an incredible opportunity for science,” Marina Brozovic, a radar scientist at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in a Nasa release.

“We’ll observe the asteroid with both optical and radar telescopes. With radar observations, we might be able to see surface details that are only a few metres in size,” Brozovic said.

Stretching about 340m across, about 2 billion people should be able to see it pass by with their naked eyes as it flies above Earth from the east coast to the west coast of Australia, then across the Indian Ocean and the equator, before moving west above Africa and finally over the Atlantic Ocean, Nasa said.

Apophis was discovered in 2004 by US astronomers. Since its discovery, optical and radar telescopes have tracked Apophis as it continues on its orbit around the Sun, so scientists know well its future trajectory.

Current calculations show that Apophis still has a small chance of impacting Earth, albeit many decades later, Nasa said.

“Current calculations show that Apophis still has a small chance of impacting Earth, less than 1 in 100,000 many decades from now,” Nasa said in the press release. “Future measurements of its position can be expected to rule out any possible impacts.

Published on Apr 29, 2019 (0:18 min.)

 

[Ca.]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1133675100056764416

— A huge double asteroid is streaking toward Earth, but scientists say it will pass by with plenty of room to spare.

The asteroid, known as 1999 KW4, will make its closest approach to our planet on Saturday, but it's important to note that that distance means something different to space folks, who work on a galactic scale.

The EuropeaSpace Agency says it will be 3,219,961 miles (5,182,024 km) away -- more than 13 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.

It's called a bianary system, because there are two asteroids that are gravitationally bound together. The larger one is just under a mile in diameter and its companion asteroid "moon" is about a third of that size.

It was first discovered in 1999 by scientists with the LINEAR project in New Mexico.

The ESA tweeted an animation showing 1999 KW4 that was shot on May 9 by a 0.6-metre telescope on the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. It describe the asteroid as "the grey blob at the centre of this animation."

Scientists will use dozens of telescopes around the world to collect as much data as they can as the asteroid passes.

It won't be visible to the naked eye, but EarthSky.org says amateur astronomers may be able to see it if they use a telescope that's 8" in diameter or larger. It will look like a slow-moving star.

The system will come even closer to the Earth (but still pretty far away) the next time it swings by, but that won't happen until May 2036.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1133750162331983874

https://twitter.com/x/status/1133444921724153858

https://twitter.com/x/status/1132322159098048512

https://twitter.com/x/status/1133274291821252609

 

[mabar]

Close Encounters with the Taurid Swarm

Close Encounters with the Taurid Swarm

May 24, 2019: In November 2032, Earth will pass through the Taurid Swarm, a cloud of debris from Comet 2P/Encke that makes brilliant fireballs when its gravelly particles occasionally hit Earth&#82…

spaceweatherarchive.com

It is becoming quite difficult to copy paste the article here using the cellphone, perhaps someone can do it? In short we (planet) may have another Tunguska event.

 

[goyacobol]

Close Encounters with the Taurid Swarm

Close Encounters with the Taurid Swarm

May 24, 2019: In November 2032, Earth will pass through the Taurid Swarm, a cloud of debris from Comet 2P/Encke that makes brilliant fireballs when its gravelly particles occasionally hit Earth&#82…

spaceweatherarchive.com

It is becoming quite difficult to copy paste the article here using the cellphone, perhaps someone can do it? In short we (planet) may have another Tunguska event.

Close Encounters with the Taurid Swarm
MAY 24, 2019 / DR.TONY PHILLIPS
May 24, 2019: In November 2032, Earth will pass through the Taurid Swarm, a cloud of debris from Comet 2P/Encke that makes brilliant fireballs when its gravelly particles occasionally hit Earth’s atmosphere. Previous encounters with the Swarm in 2005 and 2015 produced showers of bright meteors observed around the world; in 1975 the Swarm contacted the Moon, making Apollo seismic sensors ring with evidence of objects hitting the lunar surface. If forecasters are correct, we’re in for similar activity 13 years from now.
Some researchers are beginning to wonder if there might be more to the Taurid Swarm than the pebble-sized particles that make fireballs–something, say, that could level a forest. On June 30, 1908, a forest in Siberia did fall down when a 100-meter object fell out of the sky and exploded just above the Tunguska River. Back-tracking the trajectory of the impactor suggests it may have come from the Taurid Swarm.

Above: Trees felled by the Tunguska explosion. Credit: the Leonid Kulik Expedition
Why would the Swarm contain such big rocks? After all, comet debris is normally no bigger than specks of dust. The most popular theory holds that 10 or 20 thousand years ago, a giant 100-km wide comet fragmented in the inner solar system. The breakup produced a mixture of dust and asteroid-sized bodies that are still present today. Comet 2P/Encke itself may be just one of the fragments.
If the Taurid Swarm does indeed contain Tunguska-class impactors, the people of Earth need to know. A team of astronomers from the University of Western Ontario (UWO) suggests that this summer is a great time to find out.
“In June 2019 the Earth will approach within [0.06 AU or 9 million km] of the center of the Taurid swarm, its closest post-perihelion encounter with Earth since 1975,” write UWO astronomers David Clark, Paul Wiegert and Peter Brown in a paper just accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. “This will be the best viewing geometry to detect and place limits on the number of Near-Earth Objects proposed to reside at the swarm center until the early 2030s.”

To be clear, the team won’t be looking for fireballs disintegrating in Earth’s atmosphere. Instead, they want to point powerful telescopes at the Swarm, peering deep inside it to see if they can find big, dangerous pieces of rock gliding among the pebbles.
“Seeing anything in the Taurid Swarm will be tough,” says Wiegert. “It’s faint, it’s spread across a lot of sky, and it’s moving fast. A fair dash of serendipity will be needed to catch a glimpse of it. But we have to try to strike when the iron is hot, and that’s now.”
“We’ve applied for 10 hours of time on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope atop Mauna Kea,” he adds. “And we’re hoping other big telescopes will join the search as well.”
To learn more about this year’s close encounter with the Taurid Swarm, read the original research at https://arxiv.org/pdf/1905.01260.pdf

 

[Ursus Minor]

Very interesting scientific findings. Thank you.

I'll keep it in the back of my mind not to reincarnate (if at all necessary) before 2033.

 

[mabar]

Thanks goyacobol.

 

[goyacobol]

Thanks goyacobol.

No problem mabar. Thank you for posting it.

 

[Ca.]

Asteroid 2006 QV89 Could it hit earth? Earthquake update 6/7/2019

TheEarthMaster Published on Jun 7, 2019 / 17:36
006 QV89 (also written 2006 QV89) is an Apollo near-Earth asteroid roughly 30 meters (98 feet) in diameter. It was discovered on 29 August 2006 when the asteroid was about 0.03 AU (4,500,000 km; 2,800,000 mi) from Earth and had a solar elongation of 150 degrees. The asteroid has a short 10 day observation arc and has not been detected since 2006. The asteroid is estimated to make a 2019 closest approach to Earth around 23−27 September at a distance of roughly 0.04 AU (6,000,000 km; 3,700,000 mi).[4]

NEO Earth Close Approaches

 

[Windmill knight]

Apparently between June 5 and July 18 the Earth is passing the closest to the Beta Taurids since 1975. June 28 is the day we will be the closest. The Taurid swarm is the debris left by Comet Encke, and is thought to be the origin of the rock that exploded over Tunguska.

Beta Taurid meteor swarm is headed for Earth and could have catastrophic impact

Earth will be making its closest approach to the Beta Taurids since 1975 this month

www.mirror.co.uk

 

[mrtn]

Spaceweather.com Time Machine

SMALL ASTEROID EXPLODES NEAR PUERTO RICO--UPDATED: On June 22nd at 21:25 UT, a small asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere and exploded in broad daylight south of Puerto Rico. Airwaves recorded by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization's infrasound station in Bermuda pegged the blast energy between 3 and 5 kilotons of TNT--a fraction of a WW II atomic bomb. The explosion was clearly visible in images from NOAA's GOES-16 weather satellite:

This movie combines data from GOES-16's Global Lightning Mapper and water vapor infrared spectrometer​

Meteor expert Peter Brown of the University of Western Ontario says the infrasound signal is consistent with a "small multi-meter sized near-Earth asteroid." According to data compiled by NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies, asteroids of this size and energy hit Earth's atmosphere about once a year. That means it's rare--but not exceptionally so.

The asteroid fragmented as it ripped through the atmosphere. This infrared image from the GOES-16 satellite shows the space rock splitting into at least 3 pieces:

​

Many more fragments undoubtedly sprayed from the explosion, but the resulting meteorites are now at the bottom of the Caribbean or (in the case of dust-sized debris) floating on the sea surface. Samples would be very difficult to recover.

Earth is currently approaching the Taurid Swarm--a stream of rocky debris associated with the Tunguska Impact of 1908. Astronomers are eager for the close encounter, which begins in late June, so they can peer inside the swarm in search of dangerous asteroids. This fireball, however, is not a Taurid.

"Based on a preliminary orbit for the fireball, it does not appear to be part of the Taurid swarm," says Paul Weigert of the University of Western Ontario. "Its orbit is typical of near-Earth asteroids which have escaped from the asteroid belt."

UPDATE: This asteroid may have been discovered shortly before it struck by an Atlas Project Survey telescope: more.

 

[Ca.]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1143573095199830017

Summer is the season for tourists, and that includes a cosmic traveler — one that's three times the length of a football field — that's expected to visit Earth's neighborhood later this week.

We're using the term "neighborhood" loosely here; the heavenly tourist (yes, it's an asteroid), known as 2008 KV2, is expected to zip by at a distance of about 4.2 million miles (6.7 million kilometers) from Earth on Thursday (June 27). But even though this visitor will be far away, the event's still notable; it's not every day that such a big space rock hurtles by our planet.

To put 2008 KV2's distance from Earth into perspective, the moon is about 238,900 miles (384,400 km) away from us, and the asteroid will be more than 17 times that distance.

Scientists discovered the asteroid in 2008 and promptly set about calculating how often it came within Earth's vicinity; the researchers produced estimates of its travels between 1900 and 2199. It turns out, 2008 KV2 is a fairly frequent visitor. Like Earth, it orbits the sun, but it doesn't always come that close to us. Even so, after Thursday's trip, 2008 KV2 is expected to pass by Earth again in 2021 and twice in 2022, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

Why is NASA paying so much attention to this asteroid, which could measure up to 1,082 feet (330 meters) across? The agency monitors all known near-Earth objects (NEOs) that venture into the zone between 91 million and 121 million miles (146 million and 195 million km) from the sun, meaning that an object is an NEO if "it can pass within about 30 million miles (50 million kilometers) of Earth's orbit," NASA says on its website.

2008 KV2 is passing with 0.05 astronomical units (AU) of Earth (according to JPL, it's coming within 0.045 AU of our planet). Because of that, and because of the object's size, the space rock is considered a "potentially hazardous asteroid," according to the Center for Near Earth Object Studies at JPL. (One AU is equal to the average distance between the Earth and the sun.)

However, this space tourist isn't lingering during its travels. The asteroid will zoom by Earth at more than 25,400 mph (40,800 km/h). It will be going so fast that it won't have time to celebrate the United Nation's Asteroid Day with us on June 30.

Oh well, maybe 2008 KV2 will stick around next time — which we're cool with, so long as it doesn't bump into Earth.

 

[Gaby]

Here's an animation, courtesy of Taurid Swarm

Core of Taurid Swarm Passage as Seen from Earth Animation

 

[goyacobol]

Apparently between June 5 and July 18 the Earth is passing the closest to the Beta Taurids since 1975. June 28 is the day we will be the closest. The Taurid swarm is the debris left by Comet Encke, and is thought to be the origin of the rock that exploded over Tunguska.

Since this event is close at hand I think that one difficulty we have is the poor science being used to advise us. I have been thinking about how much the current science is not even "wrong". Whether we look at the damaging effects of Darwinism/materialism or rely on NASA for comet alerts there is "so much more" going on that may affect us.

Session 23 March 2013:

Q: (L) Well I noticed that there were so-called "floods of the millennium" in various places in Europe back in, what was it? 1997? When Hale-Bopp was flying around the sky. And now we have a couple of comets. We had Hale-Bopp and Hayakatuke at the same time, didn't we? There was something else, either before or after, or right along at that same time. Now we have a couple more comets. Is there any relationship between these comets and our weather?

A: And so much more!

Q: (L) You mean so much more influences our weather than just comets?

A: Yes

Q: (L) So Earth really isn't a closed system where it would be possible for... Well, I don't want to say that. It's just not a closed system and there are all kinds of things on Earth that are influenced by the solar system?

A: And more.

Q: (L) From outside the solar system... From the universe?

A: Yes. But scientists have been blinded by being led by the blind!

Q: (L) Hmm. So you say, "Scientists have been blinded by being led by the blind." Do you mean that...

A: When science is used for killing they have lost their honor and their way. Remember the parable of the talents. The man who was afraid and hid and hoarded? Then when the master came he was cast into darkness with the weepers and wailers. Thus shall it be yet again.

Q: (L) Well, we notice that the weather has really gone freaking crazy all over the planet. There are gigantic sink holes opening up in place after place. There are more and more creatures being washed up from the oceans on beaches by the thousands - or even millions, dead. (Andromeda) Storms, tornadoes. (L) Places were tornadoes don't usually happen. Migrations. What kind of migrations? (Kniall) Dolphins. (L) Oh, that incredible mass migration of dolphins. And wasn't there one of sharks, too? (Andromeda) That was last year, but yeah. (L) Creatures being found in strange places...

A: All stimulated by the approaching wave.

Q: (L) Stimulated by the approaching wave? They sense something, is that what you're saying?

A: No, the wave and its electrical and magnetic components affect the entire solar system thus, the Earth and certain geological events; this then can lead to mass deaths.

I am not predicting the Taurid swarm to be the "big one" but I am thinking that no matter what science source we use it will probably be almost clueless about the bigger picture of what is really affecting us at the solar system level and even from the universe itself.

I really never thought of "hiding talents" as hiding information like "We're scientists and we don't really know how this works so we are just going to act like we do because we are afraid to tell you how much we don't know."

 

[thorbiorn]

RT had an interesting article about NEOs:
Four asteroids on COLLISION course with Earth
Published time: 30 Jun, 2019 17:10 Edited time: 1 Jul, 2019 08:24

[...]
The United Nations fears that the possibility of an asteroid smashing into a densely populated area isn’t being taken seriously enough, so it designated June 30 as International Asteroid Day to raise awareness about the potentially catastrophic occurrence.[...]To mark the event, here are four asteroids that could wallop into Earth.
1979 XB
[...]
Apophis
[...]
2010 RF12
[...]
2000 SG344
[...]