Huge asteroid could hit Earth in 2020.

Not my headline, but MSM courtesy of AOL,

travel.aol.co.uk...

Not quite too sure yet what to make of this since it is a Daily Mail acquisition, this is one quote,

"The orbit for 2012 DA14 is currently very Earth-like, which means it will be very close to Earth on a regular basis."

I'm looking now to confirm the sources.

Here is a quote from article seems like chances of an impact are very slim - Phew

"Although NASA say that that the chance of it hitting Earth is just 0.031 per cent,"

reply to post by smurfy


Currently zero on the Torino scale...

neo.jpl.nasa.gov...

reply to post by Chadwickus


Great link - seems there is a lot Not to worry about

Okay so Asteroid 2012 DA14 is not exactly too new but from February. But the Daily Mail article is not so comfortable as to put it down without some thinking about it, with quotes like this,

"We don't know exactly where it is, and that uncertainty maps through to an uncertainty in the orbit and predictions," said Steven Chesley, who also works at JPL.

It will have a close flyby in February 2013 and could be in an orbit that puts certain satellites on a collision course.

Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...
National Geographic are there too with the current story,

news.nationalgeographic.com...

Originally posted by Chadwickus
reply to post by smurfy

 

Currently zero on the Torino scale...

neo.jpl.nasa.gov...

Too soon to call I would think, especially if they don't "know where it is" Not my words. To add, they are looking to the flyby in February 2013 to recalculate if necessary taking in account any possible gravitational effects, I suppose there has to be some anyway. This thing is Tunguska sized, or perhaps bigger, (that event is still very much up in the air) if you can pardon my choice of words.

I thought this was about a close approach on may 15 2013?
Some were saying it could hit satellites.

Originally posted by violet
I thought this was about a close flyby on may 15 2013?
Some were saying it could hit satellites.

It is about both, 2013 and 2020. please read both the articles that are linked, for the whole context.

More info from NASA here, updated today,

neo.jpl.nasa.gov...

Impact data map for 2012DA14,

neo.jpl.nasa.gov...

surprisingly enough, there is no 2020 date included, yet this is one date NASA has been talking about.

reply to post by smurfy


travel.aol.co.uk...

A newly-discovered asteroid could come so close to Earth in February that it might hit communications satellites.
Astronomers now have to see how close 2012 DA14 gets to Earth in February and how much our gravitational pull affects its course for its next fly-by.
If it does hit in 2020, scientists believe that its south-bound approach means that it will hit Antarctica or the Southern Ocean.
If this happened, it would not end life on Earth but could potentially cause massive loss of life if it hit a populated part of the world.

At least it's on the radar for trajectory monitoring.

Originally posted by theabsolutetruth
reply to post by smurfy

 

travel.aol.co.uk...

A newly-discovered asteroid could come so close to Earth in February that it might hit communications satellites.
Astronomers now have to see how close 2012 DA14 gets to Earth in February and how much our gravitational pull affects its course for its next fly-by.
If it does hit in 2020, scientists believe that its south-bound approach means that it will hit Antarctica or the Southern Ocean.
If this happened, it would not end life on Earth but could potentially cause massive loss of life if it hit a populated part of the world.

At least it's on the radar for trajectory monitoring.

A good point, sorry I missed your post until now, my bad.
I'm now obliged to go through the mind bogglingly boring JPL widget again.