NASA - "This object has the possibility of impacting the Earth."

I have just been to Rense.com and found this rather disturbing article and would love to get others opinion on it. The most odd part of the whole story is that nowhere on neo.jpl.nasa.gov... can I find NEO 2004 MC listed yet when I type in this designation into orbit diagrams I find an orbit thats closer than both Itokawa and Toutatis... its rather strange. A further complexity is that the subject of the posting was originally a NASA statement that was withdrawn the next day.

Here is a link for the orbit:
neo.jpl.nasa.gov...

and the Rense article:

www.rense.com...

"The June 29 asteroid is designated 2004 MC. It was only discovered ten days ago, on June 15 and will come even closer to Earth than Itokawa. 2004 MC will come within 0.0097 Astronomical Units of the planet, less than 850 thousand miles, a very near miss, and because of the late discovery of the asteroid NASA is unsure of the size of 2004 MC and its orbital path is not absolutely certain.

On June 21 NASA's Near Earth Orbit Dynamic Site said of 2004 MC "This object has the possibilty of impacting the Earth". This statement was, however, removed on June 22, just one day after it appeared. "

It now appears its closest approach will be no smaller than 0.0093938 AU. Still a long way off considering the moon is 0.0026 AU away.

My guess is that the statement was removed after further observations allowed a more accurate calculation of the orbital path. Showing that it won't even come closer than 3.5 times the Earth-Moon distance.

(Either way we find out on the 29th. )

Don't sweat it - we had a closer pass just a few days ago (6/22) with 2004 MR1 (.0038) and all is well. And by the way, 2004 MC is listed on the site, you have to switch to "future" tables to see it. The default table shows only past/current.

see orbit here

I had a dream about 2 months ago in which someone told me tuesday night and then I saw a lot of devastation due to tidal waves/flooding. It was an extremely lucid dream, but since nothing has happened after tuesday night afterwards like it, I stopped paying attention to it. But now, the 29th falls on a tuesday. So, something that I will look at in case NASA's calculations are off. Hopefully, it will not come as NASA predicts.

everytime the orbits in the simulators cros they thinks its gonna hit. calm down people! have a

(sigh)

What we need here is a table of "How far away is the thing" because as KrazyIvan says, EVERY time they announce a new asteroid, the Chicken Littles of the net show up and shriek "IT'S GOING TO HIT US! IT'S GOING TO HIT US!!!!"

Thanks to Badkitty and Kano for doing the translations.

All I can Say is that I truely Hope so///I have a 2 yr old and a Baby on the way I would like to see how they grow up ya know Lets all Who have faith pray for the best

since i got hooked on this board this spring, it seems that every couple of weeks there's another large NEO that was either completely unexpected till the previous week, or had been sitting ignored on some NASA chart. is that business as usual?

if this keeps up we WILL get slammed by a 1KM monster rock within the next five years....it seems like a mathematical necessity. isn't it equally likely that a rock will come within one lunar distance, or hit us?

Originally posted by Kano
It now appears its closest approach will be no smaller than 0.0093938 AU. Still a long way off considering the moon is 0.0026 AU away.

2002NY40 passed much closer, about distance of 500 000kms.
Its movement showed very well in even in five seconds.

I know for certain that we are in far greater danger on this board of being hit with yet another rense.com object than we are a NEO. Quite frankly, the rense objects are more dangerous because all they do is add to the FUD factor - Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt. That's a lousy place to live. It seems to me rense needs a good rinse!

CommonSense - I'm soooo with you on that one! It seems to me that those folks at Rense think their viewers are either very stupid or are just seeking a thrill because so much of the stuff they post can be very quickly debunked with a quick internet search. I have removed that page from my favorites and I really hope not to see any more of their articles posted here.