Asteroid 2012 DA14
As a part time astronomer (If that) I have been aware of Asteroid 2012 DA14 for some time. For a while NASA were not sure of the trajectory, now they are 100% sure it will come within 17,000 miles from Earth. NASA is “sure” it won’t hit any satellites in space, but only “Sure”, this asteroid was first spotted by an amature astronomer in Italy
Here are a few videos from NASA explaining, with DA14, we are safe, worth watching these video’s, if to put your mind at rest
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/asteroidflyby.html
Scale side
So if you live in Australia or Eastern Europe, you will be able to see this bad boy, you just need to know where to look, the link above will help you do this. I think, just my opinion, is we are going through the tail of debris left by E.L.E.N.I.N from last year. That is 3 close calls in a week, with many more to come. On average we get hit by one this size, 50 metres in size every 200 years or so. The last recorded one was on Siberia, Tunguska in 1908; this similar sized asteroid flattened an area around 50 miles in size
Tunguska and what the meteor did on 1908
Another example of one this size is Meteor Crater is a meteorite impact crater approximately 43 miles (69 km) east of Flagstaff, near Winslow in the northern Arizona desert of the United States. Because the US Department of the Interior commonly recognizes names of natural features derived from the nearest post office, the feature acquired the name of “Meteor Crater” from the nearby post office named Meteor. The site was formerly known as the Canyon Diablo Crater, and fragments of the meteorite are officially called the Canyon Diablo Meteorite. Scientists refer to the crater as Barringer Crater in honour of Daniel Barringer, who was first to suggest that it was produced by meteorite impact. The crater is privately owned by the Barringer family through their Barringer Crater Company, which proclaims it to be “best preserved meteorite crater on Earth”. Despite its importance as a geological site, the crater is not protected as a national monument, a status that would require federal ownership. It was designated a National Natural Landmark in November 1967. Meteor Crater lies at an elevation of about 1,740 m (5,709 ft) above sea level. It is about 1,200 m (4,000 ft) in diameter, some 170 m deep (570 ft), and is surrounded by a rim that rises 45 m (150 ft) above the surrounding plains. The centre of the crater is filled with 210–240 m (700–800 ft) of rubble lying above crater bedrock. One of the interesting features of the crater is its squared-off outline, believed to be caused by pre-existing regional jointing (cracks) in the strata at the impact site.
The famous meteor crater in America
So for now we are safe, but one day, one will hit, it will be this size and cause local damage or one will hit that will be an E.L.E (Extinction Level Event) So look to the skies on the 15th, you may get lucky
Shaun
Feel free to email me Shauny1973@hotmail.com
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