Asteroid to Fly by Within Moon's Orbit Thursday

Asteroid to Fly by Within Moon's Orbit Thursday

Asteroid to Fly by Within Moon's Orbit Thursday 04.06.10

Orbit of asteroid 2010 GA6.

A newly discovered asteroid, 2010 GA6, will safely fly by Earth this Thursday at 4:06 p.m. Pacific (23:06 U.T.C.). At time of closest approach 2010 GA6 will be about 359,000 kilometers (223,000 miles) away from Earth - about 9/10ths the distance to the moon. The asteroid, approximately 22 meters (71 feet) wide, was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey, Tucson, Az.

"Fly bys of near-Earth objects within the moon's orbit occur every few weeks," said Don Yeomans of NASA's Near-Earth Object Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. NASA detects and tracks asteroids and comets passing close to Earth using both ground and space-based telescopes. The Near-Earth Object Observations Program, commonly called "Spaceguard," discovers these objects, characterizes a subset of them and plots their orbits to determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet.


www.jpl.nasa.gov...

DC Agle 818-393-9011 [email protected]

Simple truth of the matter on this is that If this Asteroid was going to hit the Earth, There's nothing that we could have done anyway to stop it lol...

reply to post by DarkspARCS
You know I have been looking at spaceweather the last several days wondering why they haven't put uf Aprils near Earth asteroids.
Now I have a new site to check--thanks

sweet, so which part of the earth gets to see it and when?

line2

If it's within the moon's orbit then surely it should be visible unless it's really small

reply to post by damwel

First post says it's 22 meters wide.

reply to post by damwel


Its only about 75 feet wide so I doubt anyone will see it without a really good scope and some way to track it.

The frightening thing is that it just appeared from nowhere with no warning.

We are sitting ducks in a shooting gallery and way overdue for a major hit.

reply to post by expat2368

It would have been a relatively minor hit. Given optimal angle and composition it could have maybe been something like Tunguska (I think).

Is there a possibility it might hit the moon? The moon's gravity pulls the entire world ocean (tides), so I guess it can pull a small rock out of it's course quite easily too.

Earth and the Moon's gravity would be put into the calculations for the passing of the asteroid.

It's a possibility, but it'd be a percentage.

I think a asteroid of that size would fragment in the atmosphere, make a neat light show.

Way to small, and probably wrong composition to be what caused the event at Tunguska.

Originally posted by Chamberf=6
reply to post by DarkspARCS

 

You know I have been looking at spaceweather the last several days wondering why they haven't put uf Aprils near Earth asteroids.
Now I have a new site to check--thanks

I noticed that about Spaceweather too, although it is not always updated early in a new month, it usually is when a late event like this one comes in, but there is no mention at Spaceweather on this event as yet. The guy at Spaceweather is not so good at acknowledging e-mails either, or at least text-only ones.

Oh just great now "Fire in the Sky" was a good song though

Originally posted by Hellmutt
Is there a possibility it might hit the moon? The moon's gravity pulls the entire world ocean (tides), so I guess it can pull a small rock out of it's course quite easily too.

I was wondering this as well. In addition to the possibility of the Moons gravity effecting the asteroid, the Earths could as well I bet.

I was thinking more about the one (MassXVelocity),,,that just wizzes ?? on through us ,, kinda like the bullett through a ballon,, that bullits gone before that ol ballon even knows what hits it! LOL
Well it would relieve some of that molten lava stuff ,,or maybe a head ,, naw to gross

I generated an ephemeris at JPL's Small Body Database browser. This thing is really faint - magnitude 15.89 at closest approach. Despite its close range, it's so small that it's substantially fainter than Pluto as seen from the Earth. I have a good Celestron 8" Schmitt telescope, and I don't have a chance of seeing it. With the right equipment (which I don't have) I could use a long exposure to photograph it. Someday...

A few "genuine" questions here if someone would be so kind to answer thanks.
If this was to hit earth, does anyone know what sort of damage would be expected and roughly where abouts?
Also would it be possible for the sun to change its path if there was a flare, effectively changing its path.
I have a few reasons for asking but i know it sounds crazy but theres another thread on here stating 9th or 10th something may happen. The thing is i had a dream that ties in with the other thread.

Also is there any connection to this
www.dailymail.co.uk...

[edit on 8-4-2010 by jazz10]

I was wondering this as well. In addition to the possibility of the Moons gravity effecting the asteroid, the Earths could as well I bet.

Do you seriously think that they wouldn't have already calculated the gravitational effects of Earth and Moon on the trajectory of the asteroid?? These guys are experts in the field of orbital mechanics. They don't just draw a straight line in the direction of travel, and then see if Earth is in the way. They calculate the gravitational effects of the Sun, all eight major planets, any large moons, and also at least three of the largest asteroids (Ceres, Pallas, and Vesta) on the newly discovered object, and extrapolate from that.

As for seeing it, you have no chance.

[edit on 8-4-2010 by Mogget]

Originally posted by jazz10
A few "genuine" questions here if someone would be so kind to answer thanks.
If this was to hit earth, does anyone know what sort of damage would be expected and roughly where abouts?
Also would it be possible for the sun to change its path if there was a flare, effectively changing its path.
I have a few reasons for asking but i know it sounds crazy but theres another thread on here stating 9th or 10th something may happen. The thing is i had a dream that ties in with the other thread.

Also is there any connection to this
www.dailymail.co.uk...

[edit on 8-4-2010 by jazz10]

I'm tempted to post an alert on your post, being that the link is completely off topic and furthermore is about an anomaly that's been known for over a century, and related to a star system 2000 light years away...

please tell me you DON'T also have a pair of mickey mouse ears too....

what stopped me however is the fact that it's baffled scientists for over a hundred years. lol.. * scratches chin and looks sideways*

"I bet I could get an honorary PhD for this...."

I have a strong reason to believe that the dark anomaly that eclipses that super giant star is none other than a failed binary companion that has failed into a black hole, and that is why the "dust" engulfs it, and it cannot be seen...

Originally posted by jazz10
A few "genuine" questions here if someone would be so kind to answer thanks.

Sure!

If this was to hit earth, does anyone know what sort of damage would be expected and roughly where abouts?

Depending on its exact composition, 2010 GA6's mass is around 10,000 - 30,000 tonnes. The Tunguska impacter was at least twice as large or larger. 2010 GA6 would detonate in the upper atmosphere with the force of a 0.5 - 2 megaton blast. Unless it was unusually dense (i.e. containing a lot of metal) damage on the ground would be negligible. If it had a lot of meal, it would be like a larger version of the Sikhote-Alin meteorite.

You can have fun calculating variations at University of Arizona's Earth Impact Effects Program.

As to where it would hit, well, it could be anywhere. Odds are better than 2:1 that it would come in over water. It would be very unlikely to go off over a big city.

Also would it be possible for the sun to change its path if there was a flare, effectively changing its path.

Not significantly, no.

I have a few reasons for asking but i know it sounds crazy but theres another thread on here stating 9th or 10th something may happen. The thing is i had a dream that ties in with the other thread.

Yup, you're crazy. You need a lobotomy. I'll get a saw...

JK (and extra credit to whoever can identify the reference)

Also is there any connection to this
www.dailymail.co.uk...

None whatsoever (though the Mira mystery is cool).