Bus sized Asteroid gives Earth close shave today

For the second time in as many days, an Asteroid is buzzing Earth within the Moon's orbit. What's going on with all of the Asteroid activity? Not just Asteroids but CLOSE Asteroids? No to sound like a Fear Mongerer but aren't we supposed to be passing through a megallanic cloud or something? This one was recently found on March 4.

www.space.com...

reply to post by lostbook


A bus? That's quite small for an asteroid isn't it?

ImLisaFromEarth
reply to post by lostbook

 

A bus? That's quite small for an asteroid isn't it?

You wouldn't say that if it landed on your head!

reply to post by lostbook

What's going on with all of the Asteroid activity?

There are more and more eyes looking for them. The more eyes, the more will be found.

No to sound like a Fear Mongerer but aren't we supposed to be passing through a megallanic cloud or something?

No.

VoidHawk

ImLisaFromEarth
reply to post by lostbook

 

A bus? That's quite small for an asteroid isn't it?

You wouldn't say that if it landed on your head!

I don't believe that I would be around to tell the tale, so it doesn't matter. What will be will be. I just read about this, didn't know until I saw it here though. The larger of the two passed today and was more like 30 meters wide, but the bus sized is due tonight around 12am. They were probably always there, but like someone said there are more eyes in the sky and with more media attention we all get to know about these things more these days.

Phage
reply to post by lostbook

 

What's going on with all of the Asteroid activity?

There are more and more eyes looking for them. The more eyes, the more will be found.

No to sound like a Fear Mongerer but aren't we supposed to be passing through a megallanic cloud or something?

No.

"More eyes...." That's true, Phage. More eyes=more awareness into the issue. According to the article:

"Astronomers think that more than 1 millionasteroids cruise through space in Earth's neighborhood. To date, just 10,600 have been discovered and named."

So, as we find more Asteroids the more we'll realize just how fragile life really is...Maybe we'll start to place a higher value on life...

Phage
There are more and more eyes looking for them. The more eyes, the more will be found.

That may be true, however, going by the number we have seen recently I would have expected earth to have suffered more collisions than have actually happened, therefore it does seem as though the number of these things has/is increasing?

reply to post by VoidHawk


So just because we see more of the ones that miss us, we should be getting hit more often?

abecedarian
reply to post by VoidHawk

 

So just because we see more of the ones that miss us, we should be getting hit more often?

The more that pass the more likely one will eventually hit us!
If as phage and others suggest - "this has always been happening" - then at the rate we see them I would think it likely we'd have been hit a bit more often than we have.

reply to post by VoidHawk

The more that pass the more likely one will eventually hit us!

Yeah. But why think more are passing us now than before?

If as phage and others suggest - "this has always been happening" - then at the rate we see them I would think it likely we'd have been hit a bit more often than we have.

I'm not sure why you would think that. Space is big, Earth not so big. It's easier to miss Earth than to hit it. There are a lot more objects that pass by farther away than closer. Here's a list. Note that the Moon is 0.00256 AU from Earth.
neo.jpl.nasa.gov...

Phage
reply to post by VoidHawk

 

The more that pass the more likely one will eventually hit us!

Yeah. But why think more are passing us now?

If as phage and others suggest - "this has always been happening" - then at the rate we see them I would think it likely we'd have been hit a bit more often than we have.

I'm not sure why you would think that. Space is big. It's easier to miss Earth than to hit it. There are a lot more objects that pass by farther away than closer. Here's a list. Note that the Moon is 0.00256 AU from Earth.
neo.jpl.nasa.gov...

edit on 3/6/2014 by Phage because: (no reason given)

I understand the distance, but its the number of relatively near misses I'm refering too. If there's always been that many near misses I'd expect there to have been a few more....non misses

reply to post by VoidHawk

I understand the distance, but its the number of relatively near misses I'm refering too.

How many?
Compared to the not "near misses?"



And, of course, there are not people on most of the Earth so there could be more "not misses" than we know about.

typical you wait ages for a bus then 2 turn up at the same time