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"The Beast" Asteroid Misses Earth

  • 09-06-2014 11:44pm
    #1
    Black Swan
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 47,528 CMod ✭✭✭✭


    Asteroid 2014 HQ 124 nicknamed "The Beast" misses Earth on its close approach date of 8 June 2014 by about 777,000 miles traveling at about 31,000 MPH (almost 50,000 kph). More precise specifications appear in the NASA Goldstone Radar Observations Planning bulletin.

    I wonder how much closer this asteroid would have had to be before its orbit would have been affected by the Earth's gravitational pull, and if that, along with other factors, would be sufficient for it to impact Earth? If "The Beast" had impacted Earth, it's claimed that this stadium sized asteroid could conceivably destroy an entire metropolitan area.


Comments

  • #2
    ps200306
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,646 ✭✭✭ps200306


    Black Swan wrote: »
    I wonder how much closer this asteroid would have had to be before its orbit would have been affected by the Earth's gravitational pull, and if that, along with other factors, would be sufficient for it to impact Earth?

    The range of the gravitational force is infinite, so it affects the asteroid at any distance. At closest approach the acceleration on the asteroid due to the earth is about 0.25 millimetres per second squared, which could easily build up to several metres per second in the earth's direction over the course of the encounter. The strength of the force and the distance of the asteroid's perigee has no particular bearing on whether it impacts earth on any subsequent fly-by. For that to happen it needs to score a direct hit (or a grazing hit on the atmosphere steep enough to be decelerated and captured).


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