A "potentially hazardous" asteroid bigger than a skyscraper reaches Earth next week

[midian182]

In brief: An asteroid the size of the Empire State Building that has been classified as potentially hazardous is blasting toward Earth and will arrive next week. But we don't have to worry, apparently, as the object will pass us, though it will be comparatively close to our planet.

Asteroid 1994 XD, which was discovered by the Spacewatch group at Kitt Peak Observatory in Arizona in 1994, will come as close as 1.8 million miles to Earth, or about eight times the average distance of the moon, just before 9pm EDT on June 12.

The asteroid is between 1,214 to 2,723 feet in diameter and is traveling at 77,301 kilometers per hour (48,032 mph). According to the Asteroid Launcher simulation website, assuming the asteroid is 1,500 feet in diameter and hit Earth at a 45-degree angle, Asteroid 1994 XD landing in New York City would leave a crater 2.1-miles wide, vaporizing around 60,000 people. A 6.8-mile fireball would kill over 6 million, and 5.6 million would die from a 264-decibel shockwave. There would also be a 6.0 magnitude earthquake.

But don't worry about it

That level of potential destruction stemming from the asteroid's size has earned it the title of a Potentially Hazardous Object. But Asteroid 1994 XD has been even closer to Earth in the past: just 1.5 million miles away on May 31, 1904. It last passed our home on November 27, 2012, and after next week will make another close pass of the Earth in 2041.

According to NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies (NEOS), more than a dozen objects with close approaches to Earth are being tracked.

While Asteroid 1994 XD is expected to pose no risk to our planet, there will likely be a lot more concern on Valentine's Day 2046. That's when asteroid 2023 DW has a 1 in 560 chance of hitting us, or 1 in 625 chance, according to European Space Agency. Thankfully, that one's a lot smaller than 1994 XD – about the size of an Olympic swimming pool.

Last year, NASA carried out the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, attempting to deflect a celestial object by launching and crashing a spacecraft into it. The mission was a huge success, altering the small asteroid Dimorphos' orbit more than expected.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/98977-potentially-hazardous-asteroid-bigger-than-skyscraper-reaches-earth.html

 

[Blqckout]

First ufos and now this

I came here for hardware

not national geographic

 

[dangh]

" 1,214 to 2,723 feet in diameter and is traveling at 77,301 kilometers per hour (48,032 mph)."
could you, like, decide on the unit and then stick to it, and preferably if you must measure in feets, fingers, ears or whatever provide as well metric values?

for other readers:
" It is estimated to be approximately 370 to 830 meters (1,214 to 2,723 feet) in diameter. In comparison, New York's Empire State Building is 443.2 meters (1,454 feet) tall. It is expected to come within 3.1 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) of Earth on June 12, 2023" (hothardware.com)

 

[Underdog]

I'm still trying to get my head around the title. "asteroid bigger than a skyscraper reaches Earth next week
It's expected to miss us." In that case it won't be reaching Earth will it? Make your mind up one way or the other.

 

[Lew Zealand]

XD

Well at least it got a good name.

 

[scavengerspc]

I'm happy Rob mentioned that asteroid impact site.
It's been a while since I vaporized Nittany Lion country!

 

[Bhaskar Shetty]

After reading few comments here,now I think it shouldn't miss us !!!

 

[ScottSoapbox]

This is why we need space lasers!!!

 

[Gaara]

PLEASE asteroid hit the earth

 

[p51d007]

Can we get one to hit NYC, Chicago, San Fran, Portland & Seattle?
Might solve about 75% of the USA's problems. <G>

 

[scavengerspc]

This is why we need space lasers!!!

According to the trumpers Israel has plenty. Sadly all that tech is just to change your vote!

Seriously, I have to wonder what, if any, contingency plan is out there. It just seems like some day we are going to need it. And why all of a sudden are we hearing nothing about DART?

 

[Tempus]

Rob, your distance is off by a factor of 10. The approach will be 3,162,911km or 1.9 million miles

 

[Hellbishop]

Good grief Charlie Brown! Just what we need to hear with New York and other states currently dealing with orange skies and cough inducing outside air from the many out of control fires in Canada. Well I won't be drinking any red water (biblical prophecy stuff) if we do get hit by a meteor.

 

[Pcmotorhed]

Hemorrhoids are killers…fire in the hole! Oh wrong roid.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

It would be fitting if it hit Moscow if Putin were at the KGB that day.

 

[vposi]

First ufos and now this

I came here for hardware

not national geographic

Lol, I guess I'm the opposite. I came here for the alien stuff

 

[JamesBlond]

First ufos and now this

I came here for hardware

not national geographic

Try catch some of the 98% of the frozen debris that will break off on its entrance into the atmosphere, so when it hits the surface its just a car size, keep it in your house and melt it down make super computers from it... "Sci-Fi"

 

[Porkous]

The moon distance 384.400 km!
Moon width 1737km!

 

[dangh]

Seriously, I have to wonder what, if any, contingency plan is out there. It just seems like some day we are going to need it. And why all of a sudden are we hearing nothing about DART?

It is already tested and more or less in place:
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/...steroid-in-first-ever-planetary-defense-test/
"The investigation team will now observe Dimorphos using ground-based telescopes to confirm that DART’s impact altered the asteroid’s orbit around Didymos. Researchers expect the impact to shorten Dimorphos’ orbit by about 1%, or roughly 10 minutes; precisely measuring how much the asteroid was deflected is one of the primary purposes of the full-scale test."
Unless there will be some not traced asteroid somehow going to Earth with too short warning time, we are already able to protect ourselves. Any 'near miss' is fine, no reason to waste resources, we can predict the trajectory well enough.

 

[scavengerspc]

It is already tested and more or less in place:
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/...steroid-in-first-ever-planetary-defense-test/
"The investigation team will now observe Dimorphos using ground-based telescopes to confirm that DART’s impact altered the asteroid’s orbit around Didymos. Researchers expect the impact to shorten Dimorphos’ orbit by about 1%, or roughly 10 minutes; precisely measuring how much the asteroid was deflected is one of the primary purposes of the full-scale test."
Unless there will be some not traced asteroid somehow going to Earth with too short warning time, we are already able to protect ourselves. Any 'near miss' is fine, no reason to waste resources, we can predict the trajectory well enough.

What I meant was the future of the program. I would love to know about future plans.

I know about the past success, and future studies planned, but since the impact and those results, it's like we don't hear about it anymore.

 

[mbk34]

It would be fitting if it hit Moscow if Putin were at the KGB that day.

They'd just blame it on Ukraine then bizarrely use it as an excuse to invade Poland.

 

[MasterMace]

19.2 million miles is half the distance to Venus

 

[wiyosaya]

Can we get one to hit NYC, Chicago, San Fran, Portland & Seattle?
Might solve about 75% of the USA's problems. <G>

I think Texas would be better. Right at the seat of Greg Abbot.

 

[wiyosaya]

For the mathematically challenged and those who don't have easy access to unit conversion calculators - " 1,214 to 2,723 feet in diameter and is traveling at 77,301 kilometers per hour (48,032 mph)."could you, like, decide on the unit and then stick to it, and preferably if you must measure in feets, fingers, ears or whatever provide as well metric values?

Translation for other readers:
" It is estimated to be approximately 370 to 830 meters (1,214 to 2,723 feet) in diameter. In comparison, New York's Empire State Building is 443.2 meters (1,454 feet) tall. It is expected to come within 3.1 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) of Earth on June 12, 2023" (hothardware.com)

FTFY

 

[wiyosaya]

19.2 million miles is half the distance to Venus

Yes, its a long, long, long way off. Its even farther away than the JWST - but we need click-bait disaster headlines to keep the Doomsday Preppers thinking that their lives and what they are doing is meaningful. It's not like we don't hear about an asteroid that is NOT going to hit the Earth several times every year.