Missing Potential Earth-Busting Asteroid Found

Billosaur writes "A potentially disastrous 40-year-old mystery has been solved: Where is asteroid 6344 P-L? Back in 1960, asteroid 6344 P-L was identified and classified as a 'Potentially Hazardous Asteroid,' meaning that its orbit brings it perilously close to Earth's orbit (on the cosmic scale). Unfortunately, it then disappeared, or more precisely, was lost from view. Flash forward to 2007 and scientists believe that 6344 P-L has been rediscovered as 2007 RR9. Further, they are not sure it is an actual asteroid, but actually a comet fragment, which won't hit the Earth anytime soon but bears watching."

That Close!

[treyTTU]

Close in astronomic scale and we just "lost" it for a while, like, perhaps we took our eye off the ball?

Re:

[s4ck]

on an astronomical scale...

Re:

[WaltBusterkeys]

we just "lost" it for a while

I once was lost, but now I'm found.

like, perhaps we took our eye off the ball?

I once was blind, but now I see.

That said, there went my plan to spend all 48 hours of the last weekend on earth popping penguin mints and playing Halo 3. I guess I'll just have to do that this weekend instead.

Re:

[Torvaun]

After the first 900 mg of caffeine, your kidneys will stop caring about it for a while. Popping penguin mints is a mostly psychological exercise as far as wakefulness goes.

Re:

[moderatorrater]

Or like maybe it went behind the sun and by that time it was too far away for us to locate it again.

Re:

[Xinef Jyinaer]

RTFS

Unfortunately, it then disappeared, or more precisely, was lost from view.

Presumably there was something blocking our view of it. Of course, I'm not going to RTFA to find out the details.

Re:

[Amouth]

thats fine.. TFA doesn't have any details..

Re:That Close!

[bigpat]

like, perhaps we took our eye off the ball?

If by "eye" you mean telescope and by "ball" you mean big chunk of rock and ice in space that could smack into the earth someday and kill everyone, then yes, like that.

Re:

[PalmKiller]

Oh my, we better put a nuke in the center of it. Perhaps we should go find an offshore oil crew and teach them how to work in space. Oh wait...never mind

So close

[techpawn]

it's still .7 units away. We just happen to know where it is now...

Re:So close

[PlatyPaul]

Despite its current distance, it's important to note just how much a threat it could be. From TFA:

[During its first observation period (as 6344 P-L), its] orbit took it within .05 astronomical units (about 4,650,000 miles) of Earth's orbit

[It will be] making a reappearance this year as part of a 4.7-year orbit

Yes, this year it's going to be within 0.7 AU (~6.5 million miles), but it has a closest observed approach of 0.05 AU. For reference, it's useful to know that the term AU (Astronomical Unit [wikipedia.org]) is derived from an approximation of the average distance of the Earth from the Sun (which is assigned the distance of 1 AU accordingly). Additionally, our moon averages at approximately 0.0025 AU from the Earth, so we're talking about an object which has passed within 2 moon-lengths from us during observation.

So:

• Short orbit
• Has passed close within the past 50 years
• Dynamic path

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

If your numbers are correct would that not be 20 moon lengths? 0.0025 * 2 = 0.005, not 0.05.

Re:

[PlatyPaul]

Yeah, that should have been "20"... I guess I dropped the keystroke and didn't notice. Thanks for catching that.

Re:

[sckeener]

so we're talking about an object which has passed within 2 moon-lengths from us during observation.

If it comes that close again, we should land something on it.

Re:

[daeley]

If it comes that close again, we should land something on it.

"Oh, man, check out that thing, man!"

"What do you want to do with it?"

"Let's launch over it!"

Re:

[Inthewire]

Who wants a body massage?

comet fragment

[edxwelch]

> Further, they are not sure it is an actual asteroid, but actually a comet fragment

I don't know about you, but I would perfer to go extinict by asteroid rather than a puny comet fragement

Re:

[slap20]

I agree,

Add me down for "death by asteroid"! Screw those wimpy comet fragments, you didn't see Dinosaur extinction being attributed to comet fragments! Besides, I think those sneaky comet fragments are up to something, I don't trust them one bit!

-Eric-

obPBF

[fbjon]

you didn't see Dinosaur extinction being attributed to comet fragments!

Obligatory Perry Bible Fellowship [pbfcomics.com].

Re:

[Oliver Wendell Jones]

When you wish upon a falling star your dreams can come true. Unless it's really an asteroid hurtling towards Earth that will destroy all life as we know it - then you're pretty much screwed - unless you actually wished for death by asteroid.

Re:

[AaxelB]

I agree, but if we had the opportunity, I'd choose to be hit by a whole comet. An asteroid is just a rock, but a comet! That would be awesome.

I think the tail and the ice and everything would make for a much more enthralling death.

Re:

[akasch]

I hear ya - bring on the big rock - I'm sure the Lord will remove his church first, later guys...

Re:

[confused one]

I'd kind of prefer to avoid the whole extinction thing, if you don't mind.

You take what you can get...

[vistic]

99942 Apophis doesn't have the once-reported 1-in-36 chance of hitting us in 2029 anymore... now it's odds of hitting us [nasa.gov] in 2036 are pretty slim as well. It was a Torino scale 4, now it's zero.

The unofficial name

[Joe the Lesser]

for the asteroid/comet fragment is 'Waldo'.

Re:

[rs79]

Ah, that's where the Burmese monks went to.

(They appear to have gone missing)

Good

[Anonymous Coward]

Now they can help me find my keys

Re:Good

[Chris Burke]

Did you leave them on a comet fragment?

Re:

[Chris Burke]

Good point. Well try tracing your steps. Where were you when you last remember having your keys? Were you near a comet?

Re:

[Blahgerton]

Were you near a comet?

On an astronomical scale.

Re:

[saskboy]

I'm pretty sure NASA exploded the keys [nasa.gov], dude.

Re:

[hypergreatthing]

You really want them to help you find your keys?
Ok, don't blame me when it takes them 40 years.

Re:

[kevin.fowler]

Are you insinuating that the Red Sox in the playoffs is some sort of surprise?

They made it in from 2003-2005 (also kind of winning a World Series in there) and were leading the AL East for pretty much the whole season.

If there is a playoff team that is the harbinger... the Rockies are the ones that foretell Ragnarok.

Re:

[masdog]

2003 called. They want their impending Apocalypse back.

Don't worry...

[M0nk-e]

... Chuck Norris will roundhouse kick that big rock right back into space.

Bears Watching?

[phobos13013]

Why are the Bears Watching this? The Chicago ones or Black Bears? If Stephen Colbert hears about that, he's gonna FLIP!

Re:

[slap20]

Damn right he's going to flip. Whats the biggest threat to America than asteroids or comet fragments??

Thats right... BEARS!!

Re:

[aqk]

Actually they are our distant listing posts, Ursa Major and Minor!

They have since relayed this info to the Enterprise:
"Sulu, plot me a. Course towards that. Potential threat. To Earth. We're going. To whack it."
"Certainly, Captain! If any asteroid blows Earth away, I want it to be mine!"

Re:

[aqk]

I thought you already knew!
Actually those 'bears' refer to our distant listening posts, Ursa Major and Minor!

They have since relayed this info to the Enterprise:
"Sulu, plot me a- Course towards that- Potential threat- To Earth. We're going- To whack it."
"Certainly, Captain! If any asteroid is going to blow Earth away, I want it to be mine!"

I'm getting tired of this...

[R2.0]

Can't we just get whacked by a planetkiller and be done with it? Think of the benefits:

Global warming made irrelevant.

Overpopulation? Not anymore.

Think of it as God (or the FSM) saying "Aww, fuck it" and hitting the reset button.

Re:I'm getting tired of this...

[Rob T Firefly]

Can it wait just a little bit longer? I swear I'm just about to get mod points.

Re:I'm getting tired of this...

[Gordonjcp]

http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF032AD-Reset.jpg [pbfcomics.com]

Re:

[Arthur Grumbine]

Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy...genius!!

Just had a close call myself...

[StressGuy]

Took me a while to parse "FSM". Asking would no doubt have brought in a slew of wikipedia references (that would subsequently be modded "informative") and several rounds of "You must be new here".

Just another load of frop that I didn't need...

Re:

[Arthur Grumbine]

Some more benefits:

We won't have to hear any more of those absurd end-of-days prophecies.
I won't have to wait for Spore anymore. I can be one!
The underground scene will totally thrive.

Black or brown bears?

[crivens]

Didn't realise bears were into astronomy!

Re:

[MyLongNickName]

North Bear Nebula: http://pk.darkhorizons.org/ic1795.htm [darkhorizons.org]

OT: slashdot, allright

[l3v1]

I'll be off topic, but I still have to say, it's not even funny anymore when I see this story got tagged as: science, space, linuxbites, linuxisinsecure, linuxsucks Get a grip already.

Re:

[Born2bwire]

Well, we already moderate the comments so I guess we need to start moderating the tags. But then we need to moderate the people that moderate the tags because we already moderate the comment moderators. But then who moderates those that moderate the moderators? You know, this site wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the posters.

Re:

[junglee_iitk]

You can help remove the tags by adding "!" sign before the tags. So, I tagged the story as "!linuxbites !linuxisinsecure !linuxsucks"

Re:

[Raenex]

Preferences -> Tags -> Show Tags: Off

Tags were an interesting novelty for a day or two when they came out, but they don't provide nearly enough value to justify themselves.

Re:

[mstahl]

I figured it should be tagged "dudewheresmyasteroid"

We'll show it who's boss.

[Rob T Firefly]

I say we get up there and tear the damn thing's tail off. [slashdot.org] It's the only way to really deal with a comet.

Re:

[NoPantsJim]

Perhaps Steve Ballmer has an active interest in astronomy.

Asteroid collisions are like hard disks crashes

[Stormwatch]

Asteroid collisions are like hard disks crashes. May it happen? Yes, in theory. But the chance that it will actually happen is extremely low. So it is not something to be so worried abo#`%${%&+'$`%& NO CARRIER

Re:

[MK_CSGuy]

Asteroid collisions are like hard disks crashes. May it happen? Yes, in theory. But the chance that it will actually happen is extremely low

I hope you're wrong, considering the fact I just had 2 drives go dead on the last month :'(

It reappeared because it heard that

[davidsyes]

names were being given out for stellar humans...

do none of you watch movies?

[Anonymous Coward]

Of COURSE they're saying it isn't going to hit Earth. What else can they say? If they tell us the truth, which is that they found it because it's going to slam into the Earth before the end of month, there would be mass panic, lawlessness, total anarchy.

I've been observing it since they found it, and I just did some quick calculations using Excel, and I can confirm that it IS going to hit Earth.

Re:do none of you watch movies?

[HarvardAce]

I've been observing it since they found it, and I just did some quick calculations using Excel, and I can confirm that it IS going to hit Earth.

You are probably using Excel 2003 or earlier. The astronomers are using Excel 2007 [slashdot.org].

Two comments:

[rbrander]

1) Well of COURSE it "bears watching". They're ASTRONOMERS, they think EVERYTHING in space "bears watching".

2) I really love the metaphor Bill Bryson made (in "A Short History of Everything", hugely recommended) -

        "An asteroid passing between us and the moon is like a bullet passing through your shirt sleeve without quite touching the skin".

Ah, 4.7 yearsn, that explains...

[Mr. Dop]

Jose Arguelles forecast using the Mayan Calendar [wikipedia.org] that a cataclysm will take place in 2012.