SoylentNews

2018 LA: The Third Asteroid Discovered on an Impact Trajectory With Earth

posted by janrinok on Wednesday June 06 2018, @09:20AM   
from the nice-to-meet-you dept.

takyon writes:

Asteroid on Course to Earth Was Spotted Just Hours Before It Hit The Atmosphere

Witnesses reported a fireball streaking across the sky above Botswana on Saturday night. The asteroid hurtling toward Earth at 10 miles (16 km) a second looked like it could be the harbinger of catastrophe. A webcam in a rural area west of Johannesburg captured it, showing a luminous orb igniting the sky in a bright flash.

NASA had only discovered the asteroid on Saturday and determined it was on a collision course for the planet, charted for entry in a vast expanse from Southern Africa and across the Indian Ocean to New Guinea and given the name 2018 LA.

The reality of the asteroid's fiery end was less dramatic than the video shows. The asteroid was estimated at just six feet (1.8 metres) across, otherwise known as boulder-sized, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement. It burned up "several miles" above the Earth's surface.

2018 LA aka ZLAF9B2 (25-35 tons).
2014 AA (40 tons).
2008 TC₃ (80 tons).

---

Original Submission

• Re:That almost... Re:That almost... (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 06 2018, @12:38PM (1 child)

  by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 06 2018, @12:38PM (#689280)

  uhm. I realize you're trolling, but there are people out there who will not, so please don't troll.

  for everyone else: the more dangerous an asteroid is, the earlier it will be discovered, because it will be bigger.
  my only assumption when stating this is that asteroids all have more or less the same density, which is not true, but still a reasonable approximation.
  In other words: an asteroid made of solid iron (high density) that is big enough to really hurt us (the high density means that it wouldn't need to be very big) would still be seen quite early.

  Parent

  Starting Score:	0		points
  Moderation		+1
  Informative=1, Total=1
  Extra 'Informative' Modifier		0
  Total Score:		1

• Re:That almost... (Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday June 06 2018, @10:53PM

  by c0lo (156) on Wednesday June 06 2018, @10:53PM (#689608) Journal

  uhm. I realize you're trolling

  Really?
  ^{Note to myself: be more subtle next time.}

  for everyone else: the more dangerous an asteroid is, the earlier it will be discovered, because it will be bigger.

  True... Unless it won't, that is.
  I mean, look, the Chelyabinsk one was larger than the ones linked in TFS.

  With an estimated initial mass of about 12,000–13,000 metric tons[7][8][10] (13,000–14,000 short tons, heavier than the Eiffel Tower), and measuring about 20 metres in diameter

  --
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0

  Parent