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.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Monday February 17 2020, @08:56PM (16 children)
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.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1, Redundant) by Bot on Monday February 17 2020, @09:15PM (8 children)
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.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @10:15PM (2 children)
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)
Religious people taking things way too seriously
And atheists dont?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @10:40PM
Not this one. cf. here [soylentnews.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @10:38PM
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)
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)
LOL, vatican II and zionists councils say the master isn't very strict, which is a no-no. I would rather look at scientology.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday February 18 2020, @07:33PM
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
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)
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)
Jesus, it took them 97 years to finish the tallest building:
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)
>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)
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.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday February 18 2020, @04:58PM
Think we've got a winner:
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday February 18 2020, @07:36PM
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
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(Score: 4, Funny) by Bot on Monday February 17 2020, @09:05PM
First, the name is wrong, if it is binary it should be 1010 not 2020.
Second, we are tired of binary blobs, source or GTFO.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Monday February 17 2020, @09:31PM (3 children)
Binary, huh? How do they know what the rocks identify as? One may be a flock of seagulls, and the other may not even be real. Or, maybe one of them really is an Apache helicopter, in disguise? Have any psycho-fools bothered to ask?
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @09:41PM (2 children)
Being offtopic is not a serious offence, being lame while off topic should be punishable with some weeks in solitary confinement.
Now, git
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday February 17 2020, @11:38PM (1 child)
This isn't HN, so jokes are perfectly acceptable here. However, really, really bad jokes should be grounds for a temporary suspension. If you're going to make a joke, at least try to be clever.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @05:49AM
If bad jokes warrant a suspension from posting, how come we still get aristarchus submissions?
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday February 17 2020, @09:45PM (2 children)
Did anybody notify Bruce Willis? My understanding is that that's what you do in these kinds of cases.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday February 17 2020, @10:21PM (1 child)
He's dead, Jim. A kid that sees dead people told me.
He spent too much time with Milla Jovovich after that stint on planet Fhloston and got infected with the stuff the Red Queen was cooking for the Umbrella Corporation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 17 2020, @10:46PM
Electrated by an eel.
(Score: 2) by Coward, Anonymous on Monday February 17 2020, @11:59PM (2 children)
TFA says:
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday February 18 2020, @12:30AM
oops died
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday February 18 2020, @10:02AM
>There are a lot of really dark asteroids out there
wow does that black liths matters movement even allow this kind of hate speech?
Account abandoned.