Massive Football Field-Sized Asteroid Comes Close to Earth

[Evo]

This is rather disturbing.

At a Glance

• A football field-sized asteroid made a close shave with our home planet on April 15.
• It came within half the distance between the Earth and the moon.
• Researchers did not detect the space rock until just a few hours before it flew past.

A massive football field-sized asteroid made a close pass by Earth Sunday, a phenomenon that went unnoticed until the last minute.

With an estimated diameter of up to 361 feet, asteroid 2018 GE3 came within 119,500 miles of Earth, which is half the distance from our planet and the moon, EarthSky.org reports.

https://weather.com/science/space/news/2018-04-17-asteroid-massive-2018-ge3-nasa-flyby

 

[russ_watters]

Not awesome it wasn't noticed, but asteroids this big pass this close relatively often (not the first one this year).

By comparison, the Chelyabinsk meteor that exploded over Russia was about 20m in diameter and exploded with a yield of 400-500 kt. So 100m is a biggie.

 

[Evo]

Not awesome it wasn't noticed, but asteroids this big pass this close relatively often (not the first one this year).

By comparison, the Chelyabinsk meteor that exploded over Russia was about 20m in diameter and exploded with a yield of 400-500 kt. So 100m is a biggie.

You have a big telescope, I hereby hold you personally responsible for notifying me of any large objects headed for me so I can, heck, do nothing. I don't even have a basement. Like that would help if it was a direct hit.

 

[russ_watters]

You have a big telescope, I hereby hold you personally responsible for notifying me of any large objects headed for me so I can, heck, do nothing. I don't even have a basement. Like that would help if it was a direct hit.

Like it's my fault you wouldn't have time to panic.

 

[Monsterboy]

I have feeling that people who worry about asteroids passing close by secretly wish for something to happen.

 

[berkeman]

By comparison, the Chelyabinsk meteor that exploded over Russia was about 20m in diameter and exploded with a yield of 400-500 kt. So 100m is a biggie.

If it had collided with the near side of the Moon, would the event have been visible without a telescope? Or would it just have been a little rearranging of Moon dust?

 

[fresh_42]

Here's another IF.

If it had collided on one of the Earth's super-plumes, could it trigger an eruption? I know the crater won't be deep enough to reach the plumes, but what about the following seismic activities? Ideas @davenn ?

 

[pinball1970]

I don't suppose there is any provision for dealing withese things? Other than spotting them and noting velocity mass etc?

 

[pinball1970]

I have feeling that people who worry about asteroids passing close by secretly wish for something to happen.

Not me, I worry because I don't want to be vaporized unexpectedly.

 

[JLowe]

I have feeling that people who worry about asteroids passing close by secretly wish for something to happen.

I mean, it wouldn't be the worst way to go. The human race won't last forever, it's just a matter of whether we want to go out in a bang or die off slowly.

 

[sophiecentaur]

Not me, I worry because I don't want to be vaporized unexpectedly.

That scenario is nothing like as bad as being on the fringe of the experience.

 

[sophiecentaur]

I mean, it wouldn't be the worst way to go. The human race won't last forever, it's just a matter of whether we want to go out in a bang or die off slowly.

According to the colonisation enthusiasts, the human race could aim at reaching an alternative planet and keep itself going that way. Nut. as one who would have to stay home and suffer the decline any way, the adventure aspect of that doesn't touch my enthusiasm.

 

[russ_watters]

If it had collided with the near side of the Moon, would the event have been visible without a telescope?

I would think so. That's not far from the size of the smaller Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts, which were visible with small (large amateur) telescopes...but a thousand times closer and therefore a million times brighter.

[edit]
More specific answer: Yes. The size threshold for visibility is around 1m:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.sp...teorite-impact-brightest-lunar-explosion.html

 

[russ_watters]

I have feeling that people who worry about asteroids passing close by secretly wish for something to happen.

@berkeman clearly does. Unfortunately it's much less likely to be able to watch one from a safe distance of a few hundred thousand miles than to have one hit earth. Earth's a bigger target and it's in the way.

 

[pinball1970]

I mean, it wouldn't be the worst way to go. The human race won't last forever, it's just a matter of whether we want to go out in a bang or die off slowly.

Quick for those near the blast, the one that wiped out the dinosaurs left no animal larger than 50Kg alive due to the combined effects of ash cold noxious gases and annihilation of plant life.

I don’t think it would be a great way to go.

What a waste too?

200,000 years of progress up in smoke.

 

[pinball1970]

That scenario is nothing like as bad as being on the fringe of the experience.

So either a quick death from extreme blast/ heat or slow death from suffocation starvation extreme cold...

 

[berkeman]

This thread is getting depressing...

 

[pinball1970]

This thread is getting depressing...

Or an advanced alien life comes, warns us and takes a certain number of the population away to start a brave new world in a Eden paradise.

 

[fresh_42]

Or an advanced alien life comes, warns us and takes a certain number of the population away to start a brave new world in a Eden paradise.

Or a GRB comes and solves this all in a second

 

[pinball1970]

Or a GRB comes and solves this all in a second

I am cool with that as long as we get Beethoven just before

 

[Monsterboy]

@berkeman clearly does. Unfortunately it's much less likely to be able to watch one from a safe distance of a few hundred thousand miles than to have one hit earth. Earth's a bigger target and it's in the way.

I was talking about me !

I would like something much more dramatic. An asteroid striking the earth, big enough to get mentioned in the news and cause some policy changes but small enough to kill only a few people and some property. Perhaps the Atlantic ocean will be a good target, leading to tsunamis striking the east coast, Europe and Africa.

 

[fresh_42]

This thread is getting depressing...

Not me, I worry because I don't want to be vaporized unexpectedly.

I don't care. I always have my towel with me

 

[pinball1970]

I don't care. I always have my towel with me

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=a...AUICygC&biw=1280&bih=918#imgrc=jOj5cndY_wT8xM:

 

[256bits]

My cat wasn't going to expend extra mental energy on the asteroid missing the earth.
Just coughed up a hairball, and went back to sleep.

 

[OmCheeto]

I don't suppose there is any provision for dealing withese things?

According to NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office FAQ:

How can we prevent an asteroid impact with Earth?

The key to preventing an impact is to find any potential threat as early as possible. With a couple of decades of warning, which would be possible for 100-meter-sized asteroids with a more capable detection network, several options are technically feasible for preventing an asteroid impact.​

.
Would it be possible to shoot down an asteroid that is about to impact Earth?

[No]​

Other than spotting them and noting velocity mass etc?

It looks like we will be spotting new ones for a while:

Same reference; "Based on statistical population estimates, about 74 percent of NEOs larger than 460 feet still remain to be discovered."​

 

[Android17]

Would they even tell us if something is heading our way? I think not!

 

[happyhacker]

Heaven forbid (an expression I don't really like but fits here I suppose!), that Space travel will include warfare (which it will as the UN is unlikely to eventually wield sufficient powers) and someone devises a way of redirecting a bit of rock at their enemy!.

 

[Monsterboy]

Heaven forbid (an expression I don't really like but fits here I suppose!), that Space travel will include warfare (which it will as the UN is unlikely to eventually wield sufficient powers) and someone devises a way of redirecting a bit of rock at their enemy!.

Ah but it will take anywhere between 10 years or several decades to locate a rock and manage to pull it all the way here.