Asteroid 2012-DA14 will pass within 17,200 miles of Earth at 18,000mph

the culture of deference

It will be one near-miss for man.




When Asteroid 2012-DA14 hurtles past Earth later this month in what counts as the closest of cosmic calls, US government scientists will be closely tracking its path from Nasa's observatory in the Californian desert.




the lump of debris the size of a school gymnasium that will pass within 17,200 miles of the planet at 18,000mph - closer than many of the satellites circling the planet"




Longer article here with details of new space mining companies



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9844423/As-asteroid-heads-for-Earth-near-miss-space-mining-companies-prepare-to-boldly-dig.html



http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/science/closest-asteroid-in-recorded-history-to-fly-past-earth/article4375170.ece

Mickeroo

Nice, how visible will this be I wonder?

Capt'n Midnight

not very

guessing it won't be as bright as the ISS and nearly 100 times further away

toastedpickles

transporting them back into Earth's orbit to harvest precious metals and liquids

And just say that goes a bit wrong? Then what?

Capt'n Midnight

9:30 - 10 pm looking at it
crossing the tail of the great bear

check on sky at night website

will need small telescope with low power eyepiece

Capt'n Midnight

toastedpickles wrote: »

transporting them back into Earth's orbit to harvest precious metals and liquids

And just say that goes a bit wrong? Then what?

you'd have to nudge it a bit

probably need aerobraking to slow it enough to enter an earth orbit


better off finding an ice asteroid and using the ice as fuel to sent it back

toastedpickles

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

you'd have to nudge it a bit

probably need aerobraking to slow it enough to enter an earth orbit


better off finding an ice asteroid and using the ice as fuel to sent it back

Yeah maybe, but to me it just has potential catastrophe written all over it, I'm sure it would be grand and all but you never know

coylemj

Because it's such a close flyby, you'll need a sky map tailored to your location.

Register your location on http://www.heavens-above.com/ and they will give you a chart showing the path of 2012-DA14 on the evening of Feb 15th. Make sure your time zone is set to GMT+0 UK/Ireland.

kepler22

their no point in worrying because they cant do jack **** anyway.

666irishguy

kepler22 wrote: »

their no point in worrying because they cant do jack **** anyway.

I've heard they have a plan to launch a salvo of Titan ICBM's straight up at a rough intercept course. Makes you wonder how many times throughout history the Earth has had a close call and humans were oblivious to the danger.

emo72

this tonight guys? its looking good for it.

3ndahalfof6

Would most of it not burn up before it hit if it is only that size?

hal9000

and its full cloud cover crap seeing conditions, low transparency, and high humidity here in Galway(Im genuinely shocked! :pac:) not a chance I would be able to track it anyway! :P

Drift

Hi guys.

I'd quite like to see this but I have no binoculars or telescope near me this evening. Would it even be visible as a faint spec to the naked eye?

I have a custom star chart so I know where to look in the sky. Even a clueless, "toolless," stargazer like myself will be able to find Ursa Major and it appears to pass through it at 21.30ish.

heres a link to the asteroid flyby

http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

Technoprisoner

where and when should i be looking for this thing to pass?

EireIceMan

Heavens above is very slow, i presume due to the traffic

ScrubsfanChris

The One Show on BBC1 are doing a bit with NASA later when it passes, and info bits during the show.
Its on now....

zenno

I heard it was to pass Ireland from the west to the east (or is it from the east to the west ?) at 7:24pm in a few ? is this correct as i have a night-vision scope and video camera ready to go

Technoprisoner

ScrubsfanChris wrote: »

The One Show on BBC1 are doing a bit with NASA later when it passes, and info bits during the show.
Its on now....

my tv is broken what time should i look into the sky and what way will it travel?

zenno

what location should i be looking ? has anyone the exact location of this pass ?

mickmackey1

EireIceMan wrote: »

Heavens above is very slow, i presume due to the traffic

:(

zenno

Never mind, it's going cloudy now, typical. maybe next time.

ScrubsfanChris

ScrubsfanChris wrote: »

The One Show on BBC1 are doing a bit with NASA later when it passes, and info bits during the show.
Its on now....

They gave out the wrong info at the start or ran out of time or something, bit anoyed now :mad:

shedweller

Jake1 wrote: »

heres a link to the asteroid flyby

http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

Seems to be tracking it now. Cloudy here as usual.

sockpuppets

i think its 9pm here?

http://www.thejournal.ie/live-asteroid-passing-earth-nasa-797815-Feb2013/

V_Moth

Had a quick look but didn't see DA14 - all the light pollution from Dublin city doesn't help. Did have a good view of the ISS and a satellite passing over from SE to NW.

mickmackey1

Raining in Limerick:(

Roger_007

ScrubsfanChris wrote: »

The One Show on BBC1 are doing a bit with NASA later when it passes, and info bits during the show.
Its on now....

Go to http://thejournal.ie . Live coverage from NASA.

Daffodil.d

BBCnews 24 just showed footage and announced it has passed us safely.

ScrubsfanChris

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Not much to get excited about....

ScrubsfanChris

ScrubsfanChris wrote: »

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Not much to get excited about....

aarrghh!!! disapointing alright, two talking heads, and taking breaks while they were at it!!!

zenno

ScrubsfanChris wrote: »

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Not much to get excited about....

That's one bad camera nasa are using, looks like slow motion.

mondeo

You could download a satellite tracker onto your android phone and it may be a help in locating the ISS which the astroid is suppose to pass by?

Roger_007

mondeo wrote: »

You could download a satellite tracker onto your android phone and it may be a help in locating the ISS which the astroid is suppose to pass by?

Tell the lads on the ISS to duck.

CrinkElite

Taken from NASA's web site.



.:eek:

ZeRoY

Roger_007 wrote: »

Tell the lads on the ISS to duck.

Seen the ISS for the first time tonight, full 3 minutes of it, what a sight!!

Not a chance here in Louth for the DA14 .... clouds all over

squod

Reports from SW Cork @ 7.30ish PM. Why are people still waiting in Swords?

Zico

I didn't see a damned thing.

Merch

mickmackey1 wrote: »

Raining in Limerick:(

Meteor shower? bit late, I'll get my coat

CrinkElite wrote: »

Taken from NASA's web site.



.:eek:

Lol big arrow towards Sun
Hey lighten up, were all ok, right? its out by 00:00 Feb 16

Unless It's coming around for another pass, is it? :eek:

ZeRoY

Merch wrote: »

Unless It's coming around for another pass, is it? :eek:

Just once i think, its orbit is probably gigantic.

Merch

ZeRoY wrote: »

Just once i think, its orbit is probably gigantic.

I was kinda kidding, but still keeping my fingers crossed so as not to tempt fate in case some other following asteroid doesnt strike!

In seriousness, I heard on the news (so I place little faith in it) that the meteor that struck Russia was an unconnected event, but really isn't it likely the mass of that asteroid and its gravity was towing along other debris probably orbiting the asteroid and that in fact they are very likely to be connected?

namloc1980

Merch wrote: »

I was kinda kidding, but still keeping my fingers crossed so as not to tempt fate in case some other following asteroid doesnt strike!

In seriousness, I heard on the news (so I place little faith in it) that the meteor that struck Russia was an unconnected event, but really isn't it likely the mass of that asteroid and its gravity was towing along other debris probably orbiting the asteroid and that in fact they are very likely to be connected?

The two objects had completely different trajectories. They weren't connected.

Merch

namloc1980 wrote: »

The two objects had completely different trajectories. They weren't connected.

Do you have some information showing this? out of interest.
I thought there could have been some possibility they have some connection.
its a hell of a coincidence otherwise

namloc1980

Merch

namloc1980 wrote: »

Thanks, where did you get that information?
I wonder what would the result have been if we were hit with the asteroid instead of the comet? or if it hit the moon? shtf.

newmug

So where's 2012 DA14 heading? Any chance it will collide with the sun?

CrinkElite

It's the cosmic equivalent of a bully shaking one fist at you menacingly and then slapping you with the other hand.

Capt'n Midnight

newmug wrote: »

So where's 2012 DA14 heading? Any chance it will collide with the sun?

no more than any other asteriod - so no chance unless it's orbit is perturbed by passing very near a large planet (larger / closer than us )


AFAIK it will swing by again but nowhere near as close

Captain Chaos

Our planet changed it's orbit. DA14 orbits around every 368 days or so. It's close encounter to us has added about 3-4 months to it's orbit and put it in a slightly safer orbit. Chances are it will never get this close to us again.

take everything

At the risk of repeating a cliche, it really puts into perspective how fragile life on earth is.
At least from what i gather from listening to some experts: something this size (or in this ballpark), if it hit, could have had serious knock-on effects (changes to the atmosphere etc). Is this correct.