We nearly got hit by a small asteroid the other day--it sailed overhead, about 45,000 miles away. Before you say, "gee, that wasn't very close" let me add that our TV satellites orbit around half that distance. Had it hit, and hit land, you would have seen something very similar to the 1908 Tungusta blast--basically, the equivalent of a moderate nuclear blast. Check out this animation that shows the path of the offender of late:
Glad to know this after the fact. I'm pretty confident if we were going to be hit by a large asteroid, the government/media wouldn't alert us to anything until after the sky was covered in ash.
Thank you CNN, at least in my final moments I'll know just how popular Thriller really was.
Marc said 18 minutes later
I don't remember hearing anything about this, and it looks like it happened in early March. Did they have any clue it would be so close, or knew it would be plenty far away? Physics will tell you some pretty good numbers, especially in space, but 45,000 miles is pretty close.
I'm just wondering if I'll be notified if an asteroid is about to slam into earth or if it'll be more of a surprise when one does. Not like it matters, we have yet to build the gravity tractor to help save us from one.
Geoff said about 1 hour later
Welp we've got roughly 30 years to figure it out before Apophis hits us. :)
Marc said about 3 hours later
Better figure it out sooner rather than later, it would likely take several years with a gravity tractor following the asteroid to steer it off course. Most likely we'd be better off just evacuating the area it was expected to hit from an economical standpoint. I'd like to know the area ASAP so I can setup a store or something in the area and grab some asteroid insurance. :)
GJ said about 7 hours later
The very real problem is that we just don't know of many of these smaller ones until just before they'd hit. Check the name: d009-dd45. I wouldn't read into the dd45 part, but the 2009 bit does mean it was discovered this year. Six months advance notice of an asteroid hit isn't nearly enough time, and look how close this one came.
GJ said about 7 hours later
And yes, it passed by 3/2/09.
Geoff said about 10 hours later
we can only hope if one does hit, North Korea is its target.
