Asteroid 2011 AG5 Will Miss Earth In 2040 143
dryriver writes with a report from CNN that the asteroid known as 2011 AG5 will not hit Earth in 2040 as early calculations had led some to fear when it was first spotted last year. "To narrow down the asteroid's future course, NASA put out a call for more observation. Astronomers from the University of Hawaii at Manoa took up the task and managed to observe the asteroid over several days in October. 'An analysis of the new data conducted by NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, shows that the risk of collision in 2040 has been eliminated,' NASA declared Friday."
Re:Do we want to know? (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah, it'd have a large local/regional impact, but not planet-wide. Estimates of the impact seem to hover around 100-150 megatons of TNT equivalent, which is 2-3 Tsar Bombas [wikipedia.org].
Re: Asteroid 2011 AG5 Will Miss Earth In 2040??? (Score:5, Interesting)
But maybe u think we could just hollywood like blow everything up and thats it?
In fact this is a realistic option with an asteroid this small. Its only 140 meters, or a football field and a half in diameter.
Shattering it into much smaller fragments is actually an option, as only some of those would still hit earth, and many of those would be small enough to burn up in the atmosphere. Most that don't burn up, would (statically at least) hit ocean.
Most asteroids, from what we know, are loose accumulations of space debris without a solid core. It might shatter rather easily.