Too close for comfort
An asteroid flew past us the other day.It was the size of a pick-up truck and missed the earth by only 240 miles.
In solar system terms, that real close.
I've driven more than that (on Earth) in only 6 hours or so
and I guarantee, the asteroid was traveling a lot faster than 60 miles per hour.
I wonder how long before that one orbits back around.
Today From The Miami Herald;
In response to:
Record-setting asteroid zoomed past Earth — missing by just 240 miles, NASA announces
Summer Lin
Tue, November 17, 2020, 5:21 PM EST
An asteroid the size of a pickup truck flew by Earth last week, setting the record for the closest asteroid to zoom by the planet without hitting it, NASA said.
An asteroid known as 2020 VT4 passed by Earth on Nov. 13, according to the Center for Near-Earth Studies, NASA’s center for monitoring asteroid and comet orbits.
NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System tweeted Monday that the asteroid measured 5-10 meters and was within 240 miles of Earth’s surface.
2020 VT4 is a Near-Earth Object, but isn’t “potentially hazardous” given its size. NASA defines “potentially hazardous” NEOs as those that measure more than 460 feet in diameter and come within 0.05 astronomical units, or about 4.65 million miles.
In August, an SUV-sized asteroid flew 1,830 miles from Earth and was the then-closest asteroid to pass by Earth, McClatchy News reported.
Record-setting asteroid zoomed past Earth — missing by just 240 miles, NASA announces
Summer Lin
Tue, November 17, 2020, 5:21 PM EST
An asteroid the size of a pickup truck flew by Earth last week, setting the record for the closest asteroid to zoom by the planet without hitting it, NASA said.
An asteroid known as 2020 VT4 passed by Earth on Nov. 13, according to the Center for Near-Earth Studies, NASA’s center for monitoring asteroid and comet orbits.
NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System tweeted Monday that the asteroid measured 5-10 meters and was within 240 miles of Earth’s surface.
2020 VT4 is a Near-Earth Object, but isn’t “potentially hazardous” given its size. NASA defines “potentially hazardous” NEOs as those that measure more than 460 feet in diameter and come within 0.05 astronomical units, or about 4.65 million miles.
In August, an SUV-sized asteroid flew 1,830 miles from Earth and was the then-closest asteroid to pass by Earth, McClatchy News reported.
From Wikipedia;
In response to:
2020 VT4 is a tiny near-Earth asteroid that passed 370 km (230 mi) above Earth's surface on 13 November 2020 at 17:20 UTC. Initially known by its internal designation A10sHcN,?the asteroid was discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey at the Mauna Loa Observatory fifteen hours after its closest approach to Earth. The Earth encounter perturbed the asteroid's trajectory from an Earth-crossing Apollo-type orbit to an Aten-type orbit, subsequently reducing the asteroid's heliocentric orbital period from 1.5 years to 0.86 years.
2020 VT4 passed closer to Earth than any known asteroid, except for those that became meteors. It passed closer than 2020 QG and 2011 CQ1, which passed about 3,000 km and 5,500 km from Earth's surface, respectively. Given an estimated absolute magnitude of 28.7, 2020 VT4 is estimated to be around 5 to 10 metres in diameter. Had it impacted Earth, it would mostly disintegrate during atmospheric entry and might leave a common strewn field.
2020 VT4 is a tiny near-Earth asteroid that passed 370 km (230 mi) above Earth's surface on 13 November 2020 at 17:20 UTC. Initially known by its internal designation A10sHcN,?the asteroid was discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey at the Mauna Loa Observatory fifteen hours after its closest approach to Earth. The Earth encounter perturbed the asteroid's trajectory from an Earth-crossing Apollo-type orbit to an Aten-type orbit, subsequently reducing the asteroid's heliocentric orbital period from 1.5 years to 0.86 years.
2020 VT4 passed closer to Earth than any known asteroid, except for those that became meteors. It passed closer than 2020 QG and 2011 CQ1, which passed about 3,000 km and 5,500 km from Earth's surface, respectively. Given an estimated absolute magnitude of 28.7, 2020 VT4 is estimated to be around 5 to 10 metres in diameter. Had it impacted Earth, it would mostly disintegrate during atmospheric entry and might leave a common strewn field.
Here's an interesting video from NASA on close asteroids.
At the time of this video, one was on it's way to be near Earth, but not anywhere as close,
as the one that most recently passed.
Comments (20)
Ford Ranger or a Dodge Ram?
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I wish there were some aliens riding it...
Strangely enough, I just watched the film "the day the earth stood still" and they were orbs with an ET (keanu reeves) and a robot.
Home is where your heart is.