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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: 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.