WATCH: 'Potentially hazardous' asteroid to zoom past Earth at 9 p.m. EST tonight

[bananas]

Source: Raw Story

A “potentially hazardous” asteroid approximately the size of three football fields will pass by the Earth on Monday, February 17, 2013 at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

The online Slooh Space Camera will track it as it passes, and a live webcast of the event will air on both the Slooh website and Space.com.

The asteroid, which astronomers have dubbed 2000 EM26, is almost 900 feet in diameter, and is currently traveling at approximately 27,000 miles per hour.

In a statement, Slooh’s technical and research director, Paul Cox, said that “(w)e continue to discover these potentially hazardous asteroids — sometimes only days before they make their close approaches to Earth. Slooh’s asteroid research campaign is gathering momentum with Slooh members using the Slooh robotic telescopes to monitor this huge population of potentially hazardous space rocks. We need to find them before they find us!”

Slooh astronomer Bob Berman agreed, writing in another statement that “the ongoing threat, and the fact that biosphere-altering events remain a real if small annual possibility, suggests that discovering and tracking all (near Earth objects), as well as setting up contingency plans for deflecting them on short notice should the need arise, would be a wise use of resources.”

<snip>

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/17/watch-potentially-hazardous-asteroid-to-zoom-past-earth-at-9-p-m-est-tonight/

[shraby]

1. I'll have to check it out..we're overcast and snowing here in WI

[Th1onein]

2. Of course, we won't spend the money to deflect them.......

We'd much rather spend our money killing other human beings across the world.

[awoke_in_2003]

19. 900 ft diameter...

traveling at 27 k MPH. Do you know how hard something like that would be to deflect?

[Th1onein]

28. Uh, no, and you probably don't either.

But it needs to be done. The only other alternative is death. Sooner or later.

[Scootaloo]

29. We'll just enlist the space unicorns to blast them from the sky with their rainbow magic.

[Th1onein]

33. We might not have to rely on them.

Might be best to consult the scientists who actually believe that this can be and should be done.

[awoke_in_2003]

30. If something that size...

traveling at that speed comes our way, there is nothing we can do to stop it. Even hitting it with nukes won't matter.

[Th1onein]

34. I wonder why these scientists would suggest that we can do something, then?

Hmmm.....who has the most credibility in this case?

[Art_from_Ark]

32. Just send these guys up to the asteroid

They'll teach it not to mess with Earth!

[Purveyor]

3. Coincidentally, the fly-by comes almost one year to the day after a much smaller asteroid exploded..

Coincidentally, the fly-by comes almost one year to the day after a much smaller asteroid exploded in the sky above Chelyabinsk, Russia. The 65-foot rock exploded 18 miles above the ground, but Slooh officials said the energy released was equivalent to 20 atom bomb explosions. The concussion alone was enough to damage thousands of buildings and leave more than 1,000 injured by broken glass.

http://rt.com/news/asteroid-earth-explosion-russia-video-469/

[secondvariety]

4. Kind of

makes the whole deficit thingy not so important.

[zbdent]

15. They'll blame Obama anyway ...

[lordsummerisle]

5. there is currently no way

Last edited Mon Feb 17, 2014, 10:06 PM - Edit history (1)

to deflect any object with such short notice as in this case.

[eggplant]

8. That's not true.

We can just defund NASA and then we won't have to hear about it.

Besides, Benghazi!

[valerief]

9. Benghazi and second amendment and freedumb. nt

[eggplant]

10. Wait, what were we talking about?

Off to Fox News to find out!

[jwirr]

6. My grandchildren are interested in this - will it be taped as it goes by so they can watch it on one

of DUs videos? They have to go to bed early for school tomorrow.

[another_liberal]

7. Does anyone know how close it's expected to pass?

That rather important information seems to have been left out.

[fascisthunter]

11. "2000 EM26 will pass around 0.018 AU (roughly 1.62m miles) from Earth..."

1.62 million

http://www.slashgear.com/huge-asteroid-to-whip-past-earth-tonight-as-nasa-warns-of-space-rocks-17317198/

[another_liberal]

12. That is very reassuring . . .

Thank you.

[groundloop]

14. Maybe there's a reason that wasn't mentioned

Maybe they know something that we wouldn't be too happy about!!!

[Coyotl]

18. " Asteroid will zoom close past Earth this week, but it isn't a threat By Megan Gannon"

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/asteroid-will-zoom-close-past-earth-week-it-isnt-threat-f4B11176450

A tiny asteroid discovered just last week is set to zip by Earth on Wednesday, passing between our planet and the moon. It is small enough and distant enough that it poses no threat to people, scientists say.

Astronomers first observed the space rock, named 2013 RZ53, on Friday, according to data from the Minor Planet Center, a clearinghouse of information on comets and asteroids based in Cambridge, Mass.

The asteroid measures only 3 to 10 feet (1 to 3 meters) across, and it is expected to pass at a safe distance of more than 148,000 miles (230,800 kilometers) away from Earth when it makes its closest approach on Wednesday at 6:20 p.m. (The moon orbits Earth at an average distance of 239,000 miles, or 384,600 km.)

Even if it were aimed directly at our planet, the newly discovered space rock is so small that it would likely burn up in the atmosphere before it could hit the ground.

.............

[onehandle]

13. I welcome our asteroid overlords. nt

[Brigid]

16. Won't be able to see it.

Too much cloud cover.

[Coyotl]

17. Standing by 33:00 and counting

[Kennah]

20. Thanks a lot, Obama

[lordsummerisle]

21. The Slooh website seems to be down n/t

[bananas]

22. Watch it live on youtube

and follow it on twitter:
http://twitter.com/search/?q=%23asteroid

[CarrieLynne]

25. OMG did u see that?

wow!!!

[CarrieLynne]

23. try this

http://live.slooh.com/

i got something there....if thats the right thing....

[tavernier]

24. They just announced that it passed. n/t

[VanillaRhapsody]

26. SHEWWWWW I am still here so I guess we made it!

[davidpdx]

31. I wanted imminent destruction thought

then instead of doing my work I can run around naked and frolic. Oh well maybe we'll get luckier next week.

[2naSalit]

27. You can access SLOOH

via the link in the OP but they were having troubles due to the observatory at Canary Islands being FROZEN, couldn't open the dome so they had to go through a site at Dubai and they are showing still images that are supposedly showing the object but not identified so it's a sequence of images and they ask you to see if you can spot it or not. Pretty uneventful though the discussion is interesting.