Scientists see asteroid hurtle to Earth, page 1

posted on Mar, 25 2009 @ 08:41 PM

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Scientists see asteroid hurtle to Earth

news.yahoo.com

PARIS (AFP) – Stunned astronomers watched a car-sized asteroid explode into a brilliant meteor shower as it crashed into Earth's atmosphere, and then wandered into a Sudan desert to pick up the pieces, a study released Wednesday reported.

It was the first time ever that scientists recovered fragments from an asteroid detected in space, according to the study, published in the British journal Nature

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awake_awoke

posted on Mar, 25 2009 @ 08:41 PM

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On October 6 last year, an amateur star gazer in Arizona submitted the coordinates of an asteroid he had spotted to the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

It was a routine logging, one of hundreds. But the computer system mysteriously refused additional data, recalled the Center's director, Tim Spahr.

"As soon as I looked at it and did an orbit manually, it was clear it was going to hit Earth," he told the journal.

The size and brightness of the asteroid -- which, by this time, has been assigned the name 2008 TC3 -- did not suggest danger, but Spahr followed standard safety procedure and called a NASA hotline.

He also alerted the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Steve Chesley, who did a rush calculation on the asteroid's orbit. The program indicated a 100 percent chance of impact.

"I'd never seen that before in my life," he said.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

So then they flew to Sudan in December, picked it up, and are now able to study it.

Just scares me really....if it didn't break up and it hit a populated area....they had no warning.

The worst part is NASA knew, and as far as I know (correct me if I'm wrong) we didn't hear a darn thing....

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Estharik

posted on Mar, 25 2009 @ 08:46 PM

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so what's the point of having all these astronomers checking to see if asteroids will hit us, if we don't hear about it until after it hits....and they have the chance to fly over and pick up the debris? I'm no expert but unless they knew it would break up like it did, something the size of a car hitting the ground from space would do a bit of damage...

One more note, if they knew it was coming, the size and what not... why not use the chance to intercept it? A test of coming asteroid avoidance techniques if you will.

Dolby_X

posted on Mar, 25 2009 @ 08:50 PM

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Hum as i know this was well know the day this guy found it.. check from

spaceweather.com

spaceweather.com...

[edit on 25-3-2009 by Dolby_X]

awake_awoke

posted on Mar, 25 2009 @ 08:58 PM
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Eeek my bad...
I never saw that before (don't remember)

I trust Spaceweather more than NASA anyway.

Pauligirl

posted on Mar, 25 2009 @ 08:59 PM

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www.astronomy.com...

A small asteroid discovered earlier October 6 entered Earth's atmosphere later that night. Friction with the air caused the object to explode with roughly a kiloton of energy, creating a spectacular fireball as it disintegrated. The object, designated 2008 TC3, was only 3 to 15 feet (1 to 5 meters) across and posed no threat to reach Earth's surface or the altitude of airplanes.

Spotted the morning of the 6th and it hit that night. Not a whole lot to be done for it.