1,600-Feet Asteroid, Bigger Than Most Buildings, Heading Towards Earth:
Space scientists have warned that a huge asteroid is heading towards the Earth. According to American space agency NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), which is monitoring it, the giant space rock Asteroid 388945 (2008 TZ3) will make close approach to our planet at 2.48am on May 16.
NASA further said that the asteroid is 1,608 feet wide. In comparison, New York's iconic Empire State building stands at 1,454 feet. It is also bigger than the Eiffel Tower and dwarf the Statue of Liberty too.
The space rock can cause huge damage if it hits the Earth. But space scientists' calculations say it will pass us from a distance of about 2.5 million miles away.
Though it may sound a huge distance, in space terms it is not. And that is why, NASA has flagged this as "close approach".
This is not the first time that Asteroid 388945 has paid us a visit. It passed very close to Earth in May 2020 - at a distance of 1.7 million miles.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 15 2022, @10:11AM (1 child)
-- RIP "KING" TERRY A. DAVIS
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Sunday May 15 2022, @11:45AM
Although this post is clearly off-topic, I went to the trouble of looking up Terry A. Davis on wikipedia [wikipedia.org]. A fascinating article.
-- hendrik
(Score: 4, Informative) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Sunday May 15 2022, @10:50AM (8 children)
The proper English is "1600-foot asteroid".
And the non-troglodyte version is "488-metre asteroid".
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Sunday May 15 2022, @11:33AM
Right. Adjectives in English don't pluralize. Unlike many other languages.
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Sunday May 15 2022, @11:50AM (5 children)
1608 feet is 490.1184 meter to the rest of the world.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 15 2022, @12:09PM
>> 1608 feet is 490.1184 meter to the rest of the world.
Except in Canada, where it's 8.04 hockey rinks long.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 15 2022, @01:02PM (3 children)
Except decimals imply precision that is not there in NASA's measurement.
A 490-meter asteroid would be a more correct metric.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 15 2022, @01:40PM (1 child)
So that makes it 0 km long then?
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Tuesday May 17 2022, @02:41AM
Leading zeroes don't count either. To one sig fig it is 0.5 km
No problem is insoluble, but at Ksp = 2.943×10−25 Mercury Sulphide comes close.
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Sunday May 15 2022, @09:32PM
Well, if I had said 490 m, someone would have commented that it's really 490.1184 m.
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Sunday May 15 2022, @01:06PM
Or you can just stick to ISO 80000 and write 1600 ft everywhere.
compiling...
(Score: 3, Informative) by PiMuNu on Sunday May 15 2022, @10:57AM (5 children)
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=2388945 [nasa.gov]
https://the-sky.org/neo/2388945 [the-sky.org]
Asteroid year is 2 earth years and the orbit is quite eccentric so it passes near earth orbit every 2 years. Minimum orbit intersection distance is 0.017 AU compared to lunar orbit radius 0.0024 AU.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 15 2022, @12:11PM (1 child)
So you're saying we can expect a SoylentNews dupe on this story every two years?
(Score: 3, Touché) by janrinok on Sunday May 15 2022, @02:32PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 15 2022, @01:42PM (2 children)
How often does it pass Earth's orbit when Earth is near, I wonder. I'm sure they have the intersections projected out for a few thousand years.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Sunday May 15 2022, @03:31PM (1 child)
As a fluent speaker of heptapod [fandom.com] I can tell you with certainty that the asteroid will collide with the Earth when the Mets win the World Series.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 15 2022, @04:10PM
I can tell you with certainty that the asteroid will collide with the Earth BEFORE the Mets win the World Series.
ftfy
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 15 2022, @04:30PM
i hope the land title deeds and plans with geometry and size/length noted are stored geografically dispersed BEFORE. they sure as hell will be AFTER ...
(we assume remnants of asteroid hit remain with the owner of the land that it rests on?)
(Score: 2) by looorg on Sunday May 15 2022, @04:51PM (1 child)
Did it turn around somehow for a second shot? Asteroid II -- Electric Boogaloo -- The Return? Asteroid Strikes Back?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 15 2022, @09:36PM
This is just a piece that broke off of the one that Bruce Willis blew up, coming back around in its orbit.
(Score: 2) by deimios on Monday May 16 2022, @03:30AM (1 child)
On their site https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/asteroids/#/asteroids/388945_2008_tz3 [nasa.gov] NASA states that it's average estimated diameter is 292.78m
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday May 16 2022, @03:57AM
https://www.spacereference.org/asteroid/388945-2008-tz3 [spacereference.org]
I see that estimate here. 0.283 km.
It's possible that an old number was thrown around and the estimates were refined after the latest approach.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]