{"id":6,"date":"2012-06-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/evelynteykaerts\/asteroid-will-miss-earth\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T04:42:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T04:42:42","slug":"asteroid-will-miss-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/evelynteykaerts\/asteroid-will-miss-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"Humongous near-Earth asteroid will miss Earth: NASA"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Humongous near-Earth asteroid will miss Earth: NASA<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

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\u2019s website<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The Capitol Column<\/strong>\u00a0|\u00a0Friday, June 15, 2012<\/div>\n
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It will be a close brush in astronomical terms, but a massive asteroid discovered just days earlier<\/strong> will bypass Earth with a \u00a0few millions miles to spare.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0The asteroid, which is nearly as large as a city block,<\/span> will not poise a threat to Earth<\/strong>, say NASA astronomers, but the event could provide information regarding large asteroid passings in the coming years.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe were like, \u2018Wow, we should track this one,\u201d\u201d he added.\u201cOnce in awhile one will come out of nowhere like this one, which is actually pretty big,\u201d said\u00a0Patrick Paolucci, president of the skywatchers\u2019 site Slooh.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Although the asteroid makes the cut as a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA)<\/strong> due to its size and closeness to Earth, 2012 LZ1 will not threaten the planet.\u00a0The 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\u2019s distance from the Earth, say astronomers.<\/p>\n

According to NASA, a near-Earth asteroid is an asteroid that has been \u201cnudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter the Earth\u2019s neighborhood.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

The announcement has resulted in new insight regarding the job of NASA\u2019s asteroid hunting team. NASA\u2019s Near Earth Object Program maintains a list of recent and upcoming close approaches to Earth, and it is seen as one of the most\u00a0comprehensive\u00a0lists of solar system asteroid.<\/p>\n

Among the most amazing events to come out of Thursday\u2019s bypass will include a live showing on the web for those interested in tracking and studying the asteroid.\u00a0The Slooh Observatory will have a\u00a0live webcast\u00a0of the passing, which should provided astronomers with a rare glimpse of the massive asteroid.<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be like some fireball streaking through the sky,\u201d Mr. Paolucci said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to need decent equipment to see it. You couldn\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

In May, NASA released the best assessment of the number of PHAs in our solar system. Using the space agency\u2019s\u00a0Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, NASA determined that roughly 4,700 PHAs, with diameters greater than 100 meters, exist in our solar system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NEOWISE analysis shows us we\u2019ve made a good start at finding those objects that truly represent an impact hazard to Earth,\u201d said Lindley Johnson, program executive for the Near-Earth Object Observation Program, in a statement. \u201cBut we\u2019ve 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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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\u00a0scientists believe they have tracked down 93% of the estimated 25,000 asteroids large enough to\u00a0devastate the planet, although the program for tracking such asteroids has faced increased funding cuts in recent years.<\/p>\n

While all eyes will likely be on the asteroid when it makes its pass, the \u00a0massive space rock was only recently spotted on the night of June 10-11 by Rob McNaught<\/em> using the Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the tug of Earth\u2019s gravity will change the asteroid\u2019s path, turing tonight\u2019s close approach, the asteroid\u2019s trajectory will get modified only slightly by Earth\u2019s gravity, a minimal impact, says NASA.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really just a small tug on the object,\u201d said one official with the U.S. space agency.<\/p>\n

The next approach for 2012 LZ1 will be in 2016, but it is expected to again pass Earth with room to spare.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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So how could our ever alert scientists not have known this monster existed\u2014until last week! \u00a0This asteroid is said to be as big as a city block!<\/p>\n

I guess a lot of smart people can miss the obvious! \u00a0Like how much money they could be making with daily posting on an Empower Network<\/a> blog like this one. \u00a0They could earn 100% commissions. \u00a0Yes! \u00a0All of it! \u00a0No more 2% or 4% or even 20%\u2026..100%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s website. The Capitol Column\u00a0|\u00a0Friday, June 15, 2012 It will be a close brush in astronomical terms, but a massive asteroid discovered just days […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1724,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,3,7,8,9,10,11,1],"tags":[12,13,14,15],"class_list":["post-6","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crafts-hobbies","category-empower-network","category-entertainment","category-how-tos","category-internet-marketing","category-news-and-updates","category-self-improvement-education","category-uncategorized","tag-asteroid","tag-blog","tag-blogging","tag-empower-network"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/evelynteykaerts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/evelynteykaerts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/evelynteykaerts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/evelynteykaerts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1724"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/evelynteykaerts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/evelynteykaerts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/evelynteykaerts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions\/45"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/evelynteykaerts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/evelynteykaerts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/evelynteykaerts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}