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posted by Fnord666 on Monday February 17 2020, @08:35PM   Printer-friendly
from the didn't-see-that-one-coming dept.

2020 BX12

2020 BX12 is a sub-kilometer binary asteroid, classified as a near-Earth asteroid and potentially hazardous object of the Apollo group. It was discovered on 27 January 2020, by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System survey at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. The asteroid was discovered during its close approach to Earth from a nominal distance of 11.5 lunar distances, or approximately 4.36 million km (2.71 million mi). After the asteroid safely passed by Earth on 3 February, radar observations of the asteroid were carried out, revealing a small natural satellite orbiting 360 m (1,180 ft) from the primary body. The discovery of the satellite was announced by the Arecibo Observatory on 10 February 2020.

[...] Radar imaging by the Arecibo Observatory show that 2020 BX12 is at least 165 m (541 ft) in diameter, implying a geometric albedo of 0.30 given its absolute magnitude of 20.6. The rotation of 2020 BX12 has not been fully observed in detail, thus only constraints on its rotation period can be made. From radar observations spanning two days, the maximum possible rotation period of 2020 BX12 is around 2.8 hours. 2020 BX12 appears to have a nearly spheroidal shape, which is commonly observed in other near-Earth objects such as 2005 YU55 and 101955 Bennu.

The satellite of 2020 BX12 is approximately 70 m (230 ft) in diameter, with a diameter ratio of 0.42 compared to the primary's diameter of 165 m (541 ft). The satellite is estimated to have a semi-major axis of about 360 m (1,180 ft), with an orbital period of at least 1.96 days.

Congress has required NASA to find 90% of all potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroids over 140 meters in diameter by the end of 2020. Given the nature of 2020 BX12's discovery and size, that goal will not be met.

Also at ScienceAlert.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Monday February 17 2020, @08:56PM (16 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday February 17 2020, @08:56PM (#959281)

    Congress has required NASA to find all potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroids over 140 meters in diameter by the end of 2020.

    Sure, and "fearless leader" required a massive skyscraper to be built in his capital city, on certain time and budget.

    Did Congress even provide adequate funding to accurately estimate the cost of accomplishing the task, much less the required schedule given budget constraints?

    Sounds more like certain elements of Congress just don't want to be bothered with news of impending Armageddon after 2020, so they passed a law to make it somebody else's fault.

    If we just found this binary asteroid - over the prescribed threat threshold - a couple of weeks ago, it would seem certain that: given the existing detection network, we can expect less than 30 days notice when a "big one" appears on a collision course.

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  • (Score: 1, Redundant) by Bot on Monday February 17 2020, @09:15PM (8 children)

    by Bot (3902) on Monday February 17 2020, @09:15PM (#959289) Journal

    As the bible says, well it doesn't but it is implied, if you take it as an ark-building instruction manual, which is the necessary assumption every good atheist does, pi IS 3.
    If you say, "no but it is 3.1415..." I ask what those dots stand for, and you reply "more digits", and I then ask what is 1415 before that, and you reply "digits", and then I ask why your approximation is ok and the approximation of the bible isn't. After all, the same account that says pi=3 says the ark worked. So you cannot pick one and reject the other, logically speaking.

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    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @10:15PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @10:15PM (#959322)

      The Bible is not a geometry textbook, and never claims to be.

      Religious people taking things way too seriously

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @10:33PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @10:33PM (#959332)

        Religious people taking things way too seriously
        And atheists dont?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @10:40PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @10:40PM (#959336)

          And atheists dont?

          Not this one. cf. here [soylentnews.org].

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @10:38PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @10:38PM (#959334)

      As the bible says, well it doesn't but it is implied, if you take it as an ark-building instruction manual, which is the necessary assumption every good atheist does, pi IS 3.

      I thought it was "Them that's got shall get. Them that's not shall lose." [youtube.com]

      You learn something new every day, I guess.

    • (Score: 2, Funny) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday February 18 2020, @12:23AM (2 children)

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday February 18 2020, @12:23AM (#959366)

      And here was me thinking the Bible is a manual for how to treat your slaves.

      • (Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday February 18 2020, @09:55AM (1 child)

        by Bot (3902) on Tuesday February 18 2020, @09:55AM (#959478) Journal

        LOL, vatican II and zionists councils say the master isn't very strict, which is a no-no. I would rather look at scientology.

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        • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday February 18 2020, @07:33PM

          by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday February 18 2020, @07:33PM (#959637)

          Why Scientology? Those weirdos don't follow the Bible in any way.

          Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses might be a better place to start.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @06:25AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @06:25AM (#959452)

      Depending on what you are building, if you take the intside circumference and the outside diameter, pi=3 can be a very close approximation.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @10:39PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @10:39PM (#959335)

    Sure, and "fearless leader" required a massive skyscraper to be built in his capital city, on certain time and budget.

    Have you been to DC? No commercial building is allowed to be taller than the statue on top of the capital dome. No one is building a skyscraper there anytime soon. That's why Trump leased the old post office for his hotel which is about 30 feet taller.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Washington,_D.C. [wikipedia.org]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @10:52PM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @10:52PM (#959341)

      Jesus, it took them 97 years to finish the tallest building:

      Its construction of Neo-Byzantine architecture began on September 23, 1920, with renowned contractor John McShain and was completed on December 8, 2017

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_the_National_Shrine_of_the_Immaculate_Conception [wikipedia.org]

      Looks like maybe Trump put an end to that boondoggle. And look what it says: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Basilica_of_the_Immaculate_Conception_%285379784334%29.jpg [wikimedia.org]

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by Grishnakh on Monday February 17 2020, @11:41PM (3 children)

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Monday February 17 2020, @11:41PM (#959353)

        >Jesus, it took them 97 years to finish the tallest building:

        That's nothing. The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC started construction in 1892, and still isn't finished yet. (It's only 2/3 done.)
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_St._John_the_Divine [wikipedia.org]

        America takes a really long time to complete construction projects.

        • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:53PM (1 child)

          by tangomargarine (667) on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:53PM (#959580)

          America takes a really long time to complete construction projects.

          It's not just an American thing. The Basílica de la Sagrada Família [wikipedia.org] in Spain has got this St. John's place beat by 10 years.

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          • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:58PM

            by tangomargarine (667) on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:58PM (#959583)

            Think we've got a winner:

            The completion of Germany's largest cathedral [wikipedia.org] was celebrated as a national event on 14 August 1880, 632 years after construction had begun.[12]

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        • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday February 18 2020, @07:36PM

          by DeathMonkey (1380) on Tuesday February 18 2020, @07:36PM (#959638) Journal

          La Sagrada Familia in Barcelons started in 1882 and it's still underway too.

  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Samhocevar on Monday February 17 2020, @11:07PM

    by Samhocevar (9508) on Monday February 17 2020, @11:07PM (#959344)

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