Humongous near-Earth asteroid will miss Earth: NASA
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Humongous near-Earth asteroid will miss Earth: NASA
A massive asteroid, named 2012 LZ1, will buzz Earth Thursday. Interested parties can watch the asteroid fly by the planet on the Slooh Space Camera’s website.
It will be a close brush in astronomical terms, but a massive asteroid discovered just days earlier will bypass Earth with a few millions miles to spare.
A massive asteroid (2012 LZ1) will fly by Earth Thursday, NASA officials say, one of the largest asteroids to buzz past our planet in recent years. The asteroid, which is nearly as large as a city block, will not poise a threat to Earth, say NASA astronomers, but the event could provide information regarding large asteroid passings in the coming years.
In a statement released Thursday, NASA officials say that the massive asteroid is one of the largest to come near Earth, saying it will be tracked closely by astronomers around the world.
“We were like, ‘Wow, we should track this one,”” he added.“Once in awhile one will come out of nowhere like this one, which is actually pretty big,” said Patrick Paolucci, president of the skywatchers’ site Slooh.
Although the asteroid makes the cut as a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) due to its size and closeness to Earth, 2012 LZ1 will not threaten the planet. The asteroid, named 2012 LZ1, is thought to be about 500 meters (1,650 feet) wide, and is expected to pass within 14 times the Moon’s distance from the Earth, say astronomers.
According to NASA, a near-Earth asteroid is an asteroid that has been “nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter the Earth’s neighborhood.” The trajectory puts the asteroid outside of the orbit of the moon, which is seen as a key point of reference for asteroid hunters searching for threats to Earth.
The announcement has resulted in new insight regarding the job of NASA’s asteroid hunting team. NASA’s Near Earth Object Program maintains a list of recent and upcoming close approaches to Earth, and it is seen as one of the most comprehensive lists of solar system asteroid.
Among the most amazing events to come out of Thursday’s bypass will include a live showing on the web for those interested in tracking and studying the asteroid. The Slooh Observatory will have a live webcast of the passing, which should provided astronomers with a rare glimpse of the massive asteroid. According to the Near Earth Object Program, the asteroid is approximately 310 to 690 meters wide and could provide amateur skywatchers with a magnificent sight.
That said, skywatchers will have to have some pretty advanced equipment to see the event from the ground. With the distance of the asteroid measured in tens of millions of miles, amateur skywatchers may have to rely on the webcast.
“It’s not going to be like some fireball streaking through the sky,” Mr. Paolucci said.
“You’re going to need decent equipment to see it. You couldn’t track it with a hundred-dollar retail telescope from Walmart. But you could probably do it if you spent thousands of dollars [on equipment] and [you] know how.”
In May, NASA released the best assessment of the number of PHAs in our solar system. Using the space agency’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, NASA determined that roughly 4,700 PHAs, with diameters greater than 100 meters, exist in our solar system.
“The NEOWISE analysis shows us we’ve made a good start at finding those objects that truly represent an impact hazard to Earth,” said Lindley Johnson, program executive for the Near-Earth Object Observation Program, in a statement. “But we’ve many more to find, and it will take a concerted effort during the next couple of decades to find all of them that could do serious damage or be a mission destination in the future.”
The event is seen as a major opportunity for NASA scientists, many of whom has sought to increase funding for identifying similarly-sized asteroids, which could poise a major threat to Earth. NASA scientists believe they have tracked down 93% of the estimated 25,000 asteroids large enough to devastate the planet, although the program for tracking such asteroids has faced increased funding cuts in recent years.
While all eyes will likely be on the asteroid when it makes its pass, the massive space rock was only recently spotted on the night of June 10-11 by Rob McNaught using the Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia.
While the tug of Earth’s gravity will change the asteroid’s path, turing tonight’s close approach, the asteroid’s trajectory will get modified only slightly by Earth’s gravity, a minimal impact, says NASA.
“It’s really just a small tug on the object,” said one official with the U.S. space agency.
The next approach for 2012 LZ1 will be in 2016, but it is expected to again pass Earth with room to spare.
So how could our ever alert scientists not have known this monster existed—until last week! This asteroid is said to be as big as a city block!
I guess a lot of smart people can miss the obvious! Like how much money they could be making with daily posting on an Empower Network blog like this one. They could earn 100% commissions. Yes! All of it! No more 2% or 4% or even 20%…..100%.