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Small Asteroid On Collision Course With Earth

Posted by kdawson on Mon Oct 06, 2008 07:11 PM
from the big-kaboom dept.
Space News
musatov writes "There's talk on The Minor Planet Mailing List about a small asteroid approaching Earth with a 99.8% probability of colliding. The entrance to the Earth's atmosphere will take place October 7 at 0246 UTC (2:35 after this story goes live) over northern Sudan, releasing the energy of about a kiloton of TNT. The asteroid is assumed to be 3-4 meters in size; it is expected to burn up completely in the atmosphere, causing no harm. As a powerful bolide, it may put on quite a show in the sky. For those advanced enough in astronomy to observe, check the MPEC 2008-T50 and MPEC 2008-T64 circulars. NASA's JPL Small Body Database has a 3D orbit view. The story has been already picked up by CNN and NASA."
+ -
story

Related Stories

Submission: Asteroid found on collision course with Earth by Anonymous Coward
[+] Asteroid Explodes Over Sudan 114 comments
radioweather writes "A recently discovered Apollo Asteroid, 2008 TC3, exploded over Sudan at about 1046 EDT on October 7, 2008, according to astronomer Tim Spahr of Harvard University 2008 TC3 was discovered on Monday by an observer at the Mt Lemmon Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. 2008 TC3 is notable in that it is the first Asteroid of its size that was identified before impact and tracking it put the entire Spaceguard tracking system to an extreme test. TC3 is estimated to be only two to five meters in diameter but exploded with the force of a one kiloton of explosive power." We mentioned the asteroid last on Monday, when it was only at a 99.8 percent chance of colliding with Earth.
[+] UN Plans Asteroid Response Framework 152 comments
chrb writes "The Association of Space Explorers, a non-profit group of people who have completed at least one Earth orbit in space, has presented a report to the United Nations titled Asteroid Threats: A Call for Global Response. The UN will now meet in February to discuss the issue and try to define a global political framework for dealing with asteroid-based threats to the Earth."
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  • Is this really news? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 06 2008, @07:15PM (#25279303)

    Small asteroids that burn up in the upper atmosphere are far from uncommon. Why is this suddenly notable?

  • it's the end of the world and... (Score:5, Funny)

    by owlnation (858981) on Monday October 06 2008, @07:20PM (#25279347)
    Bankers everywhere rejoice!

  • It's Pluto... (Score:5, Funny)

    by blue l0g1c (1007517) on Monday October 06 2008, @07:27PM (#25279427)
    and it wants revenge.

  • Here's the NASA article (Score:5, Informative)

    by Bragador (1036480) on Monday October 06 2008, @07:28PM (#25279443)

    Small Asteroid Predicted to Cause Brilliant Fireball over Northern Sudan [nasa.gov]

    A very small, few-meter sized asteroid, designated 2008 TC3, was found Monday morning by the Catalina Sky Survey from their observatory near Tucson Arizona. Preliminary orbital computations by the Minor Planet Center suggested an atmospheric entry of this object within a day of discovery. JPL confirmed that an atmospheric impact will very likely occur during early morning twilight over northern Sudan, north-eastern Africa, at 2:46 UT Tuesday morning. The fireball, which could be brilliant, will travel west to east (from azimuth = 281 degrees) at a relative atmospheric impact velocity of 12.8 km/s and arrive at a very low angle (19 degrees) to the local horizon. It is very unlikely that any sizable fragments will survive passage through the Earth's atmosphere.

    Objects of this size would be expected to enter the Earth's atmosphere every few months on average but this is the first time such an event has been predicted ahead of time.

    • Re:Here's the NASA article (Score:5, Insightful)

      by fm6 (162816) on Monday October 06 2008, @07:46PM (#25279549) Homepage Journal

      Objects of this size would be expected to enter the Earth's atmosphere every few months on average but this is the first time such an event has been predicted ahead of time.

      This detail got left out of the story summary, making this sound like a bigger deal than it actually is. This is a routine, mundane event — only the prediction is newsworthy.

      • Re:Here's the NASA article (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Jonathan McDowell (515872) on Monday October 06 2008, @08:29PM (#25279869) Homepage

        This detail got left out of the story summary, making this sound like a bigger deal than it actually is. This is a routine, mundane event — only the prediction is newsworthy.

        What this really means is that the new surveys are looking at more of the sky more frequently and deeper (seeing fainter objects), so now we are starting to catch things hitting the Earth that would have been missed in the past.

        I wouldn't say this is a mundane event though, this is going to be bigger than the majority of fireballs that get seen. Yes, every few months, but most are over uninhabited areas and don't get seen. And they are not tracked in advance - so we'll get to see how big a fireball you get for a body whose size we have a rough idea of (a few meters across).

        For technical updates, see
        http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/mpec/RecentMPECs.html

  • Good News Everyone... (Score:5, Funny)

    by gooman (709147) on Monday October 06 2008, @07:30PM (#25279449) Journal

    Since it is such a small asteroid we can save some money. We don't need to send an all-star cast to blow it up, we only need to send one celebrity.
    I suggest Bruce Willis, since we can save even more money not having to worry about the return trip.

  • We're all going to die! (Score:5, Funny)

    by HangingChad (677530) on Monday October 06 2008, @08:02PM (#25279679) Homepage

    a small asteroid approaching Earth with a 99.8% probability of colliding

    O-M-G We're all going to die! It's the end of the world! Run! Agh, forget that, you'll just die tired! I'm freaking out! I'm freaking out!

    The asteroid is assumed to be 3-4 meters in size...

    This has been a test of the emergency end of the world system. Has this been the actual end of the world you would have been given explicit instructions to bend over and kiss your ass good bye.

    This concludes this test of the emergency end of the world system.

  • 1 in 20 chance it'll be bigger than expected (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jmichaelg (148257) on Monday October 06 2008, @09:14PM (#25280167)

    5% of the meteors are iron. Iron is both denser and darker than the far more common stony meteor which means if the asteroid is made of iron, it'll be bigger than expected because the size estimates are based on the amount of light the asteroid is reflecting. If it's iron, its higher density, combined with its larger size, will improve the odds that some remnants will make earth fall.

    If it makes earth fall it'll be by far, the most valuable meteorite ever since it's the first asteroid whose arrival was predicted. It'll literally be money from Heaven for whomever finds a piece.

    • Re:Testing tractor beam theory. (Score:4, Informative)

      by Fluffeh (1273756) on Monday October 06 2008, @07:54PM (#25279617)
      Firstly the mass of a satellite would not generate enough of a gravity well to nudge any object off a crash course with the earth. Secondly, as the object in question will be travelling at around 12.8km/s (That's just under 8 miles per second if you are American). The sort of gravity needed to change that trajectory considerably would likely cause much much more problems than this little lump of rock could ever cause.

    • Re:I hope it hits Barack Obama (Score:5, Funny)

      by tekrat (242117) on Monday October 06 2008, @08:28PM (#25279859) Homepage Journal

      Well, call me a Washin'ton out-cider, don'cha know, betcha', shucks, all I gotta' do is wink and sure, by golly, that asteroid'll collide with Obama fer sure. 'Cause he's a terrist celebrity, by golly, gosh, so dangerous, and I'd like ta' ignore that question and talk 'bout energy.

      Sincerely;
      Sarah Palin

    • Abandon hope all yee who live! (Score:5, Funny)

      by supernova_hq (1014429) on Monday October 06 2008, @09:57PM (#25280515)
      Oh crap, the fate of the earth depends on the accuracy of a slashdot summary?!?

      • Re:Awesome! (Score:5, Informative)

        by CrimsonAvenger (580665) on Monday October 06 2008, @09:27PM (#25280273)

        One thing I've wondered, those small asteroids that hit the earth, say that land and are about the size of my fist, did those burn down to that size from a bigger size, or are there trajectories that it could land mostly without burning up. Like if it goes in at a really steep angle, could a rock the size of a basketball before it enters be about the size of a basketball when it lands, or is that pretty much impossible?

        Yes they "burned down". Yes, there are trajectories that let things land without burning up. But they make for lousy shows, since it requires the rock to skim the outer atmosphere just deep enough to slow below escape velocity, and then slowly (over a period of months or years) lose enough more energy that they reenter permanently. If that happens, and if they're metallic, and if they're really extremely spherical (no hot spots other than the obvious one - out front), then maybe they can make it to the ground substantially intact. Odds - well, literally astronomical.

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