Close Approach By Asteroid 2012 BX34 55
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the everybody-wave dept.
from the everybody-wave dept.
An anonymous reader writes with news that asteroid 2012 BX34, 11 meters wide, is in the process of passing within 60,000km of Earth — about a fifth of the distance between the Earth and the Moon. At that size, the asteroid would pose no danger even if it hit the Earth's atmosphere.
Re:Anyone feel like jumping off onto it? (Score:5, Interesting)
also of interest, a 10 meter metal (e.g. iron-nickel) asteroid will have big fragments that will hit the ground, for example the one that hit Sikhote-Alin mountains in Siberia in February 1947, 150 tons of fragments hit the ground and one of them weighed 1.7 tons!
It is common (Score:4, Interesting)
The issue is we can only tell when one is about a day out. Many times we can only see them as they are leaving, not aproaching. It is actually a fairly common occorance. You can see them at http://www.spaceweather.com/ [spaceweather.com]. Since the begniing of the year there have been 5 that have come close enough to actually be of note.