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from the Think-we'd-notice-if-it-didn't-miss? dept.
A large asteroid, 3122 Florence, has passed by Earth at a distance of around 7 million kilometers (about 0.047237 AU):
Asteroid Florence, a large near-Earth asteroid, will pass safely by Earth on Sept. 1, 2017, at a distance of about 4.4 million miles, (7.0 million kilometers, or about 18 Earth-Moon distances). Florence is among the largest near-Earth asteroids that are several miles in size; measurements from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and NEOWISE mission indicate it's about 2.7 miles (4.4 kilometers) in size.
"While many known asteroids have passed by closer to Earth than Florence will on September 1, all of those were estimated to be smaller," said Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "Florence is the largest asteroid to pass by our planet this close since the NASA program to detect and track near-Earth asteroids began."
This relatively close encounter provides an opportunity for scientists to study this asteroid up close. Florence is expected to be an excellent target for ground-based radar observations. Radar imaging is planned at NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar in California and at the National Science Foundation's Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The resulting radar images will show the real size of Florence and also could reveal surface details as small as about 30 feet (10 meters).
All that money just whizzing by.
(Score: 3, Informative) by stormwyrm on Saturday September 02 2017, @05:20AM (2 children)
I know it isn't hitting the earth any time soon, but here's a little what if. According to Wikipedia, it has a rotation period around the sun of 859 days. The length of its orbit would be 4(1.7684 AU)E(0.4230) = 4(2.6455×108 km)1.498 = 1.585×109 km, so its orbital velocity would be 21.36 km/s. Earth's orbital velocity is 29.78 km/s, so impact would be at least 8.42 km/s, and up to 51.14 km/s, depending on the relative motion of the orbits at time of impact. Assuming Florence to be dense rock (since there are no mass estimates yet from a cursory look) and assuming an impact velocity somewhere in the middle of that range (21.7 km/s, not unusual for asteroids), impact would be like this [ic.ac.uk]. It looks at the very least capable of massive regional devastation, and would likely be sufficient to trigger a minor mass extinction event. Might be big enough to trigger climate change on the level of the Younger Dryas [wikipedia.org]. Not quite a planet killer like the one that killed the dinosaurs, but an impact like it probably would spell the end of human civilisation as we know it.
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 02 2017, @08:59AM (1 child)
It's just one of those things where I don't trust the rest of your numbers. I guess you cite wikipedia without linking to it at least but still...
I guess we should all be double checking each other anyway.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 02 2017, @09:46AM