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An asteroid will just miss us in 2029. Scientists are making the most of a rare opportunity:
To be clear: The asteroid is not going to hit us.
There was a while there when it seemed like it could. Suffice to say those were heady days in the asteroid-tracking community. But as of March 2021, NASA has confirmed that there is absolutely zero chance the space rock known as 99942 Apophis will strike this planet for at least 100 years. So, phew. Cross that particular doomsday scenario off the list.
What remains true, however, is that on Friday, April 13, 2029, an asteroid wider than three football fields will pass closer to Earth than anything its size has come in recorded history.
An asteroid strike is a disaster; an asteroid flyby, an opportunity. And Apophis offers one of the best chances science has ever had to learn how the Earth came to be — and how we might one day prevent its destruction.
[...] "We've never seen something that large get that close," said Lance Benner, a principal scientist at JPL.
"Close," in the space world, is a relative term. At its nearest, Apophis will pass roughly 19,000 miles (31,000 kilometers) above Earth's surface. That's about one-10th the distance to the moon.
[...] From the ground, Apophis will resemble a star traversing the night sky, as bright as the constellation Cassiopeia and slower than a satellite. Though it may appear far away for those of us down here, it will in fact be near enough for NASA to reach out and touch it. OSIRIS-REx, a spacecraft currently ferrying home samples from the surface of an asteroid called Bennu, will rendezvous with Apophis in 2029. Shortly after April 13, the craft — by then renamed OSIRIS-APophis EXplorer, or OSIRIS-APEX — will steer toward the asteroid until it is drawn into its orbit, eventually getting close enough to collect a sample from its surface.
(Score: 4, Funny) by bloodnok on Friday February 17, @01:49AM (12 children)
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 17, @03:39AM
Maybe two Libraries of Congress?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by captain normal on Friday February 17, @03:40AM (5 children)
Damn right, Why can't they just say it's ~300 meters in diameter? And which type of football field? American football has 100 yards by 50 yards (plus 10 yards at dither end for end zones. so say 120 yards long. Futbool (Soccer) fields are 105 meters x 68 meters. Aussie Rules football is just plain weird, "For senior football, the playing field is an oval, typically between 135–185 metres (148–202 yd) long goal-to-goal and 110–155 metres (120–170 yd) wide wing-to-wing. Grounds can vary from long and narrow to almost circular, and are not necessarily symmetrical, depending upon how and where the field was constructed. At least 5 metres (5.5 yd) of space between the boundary line and any fence is required for safety."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_rules_football_playing_field [wikipedia.org]
"It is easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they have been fooled" Mark Twain
(Score: 4, Insightful) by RS3 on Friday February 17, @05:11AM (2 children)
And then you have Canadian football fields at 110 yards (101 m) long X 65 yards (59 m) wide with 18 (16.4592 m) yard end zones.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_football [wikipedia.org]
I like when they use Statue of Liberty or Empire State building or Burj Khalifa when comparing heights, like in rocket heights for example.
Speaking of rockets, it'll be interesting if they ever have to try to deflect an asteroid to save earth.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Friday February 17, @04:29PM (1 child)
> Speaking of rockets, it'll be interesting if they ever have to try to deflect an asteroid to save earth.
Yes, the extinction (or aversion of) the human race would probably count as interesting.
The DART mission was quite positive on the ability to actually do something about it (Assuming the collision is detected with a long enough time window)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Asteroid_Redirection_Test [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Friday February 17, @06:17PM
> Yes, the extinction (or aversion of) the human race would probably count as interesting.
That's not what I wrote nor meant. The motivation for such a mission is pretty obvious. The interesting part would (will?) be how humans, globally, would interact, hopefully harmoniously, to achieve the goal.
We've seen quite a few rocket failures around the world in recent years. Would nations with rockets come up with an international plan to launch several rockets, in case one fails? Would the seriousness of an asteroid deflection mission ramp up the need for better quality control? Would governments and rocket companies open up to people, such as members here, to get involved and help think through the engineering scenarios? Or would it be business as usual "nothing to see here, move along"? I, for one, would like some direct input into such a mission. If I had been involved at Boeing or FAA, MCAS would _never_ have flown (nor Challenger).
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Friday February 17, @04:25PM (1 child)
Only one of your "football" fields hosts a game which where the primary means of the ball is the foot
(Score: 3, Funny) by turgid on Friday February 17, @08:47PM
A cricket bat doesn't have wings. Neither does a baseball bat. A tennis raquet does make a noise, though.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday February 17, @02:38PM (1 child)
I'm not sure why you're trying to get it in units of blood, rocks don't even bleed.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday February 18, @08:52PM
The Horta do!
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Friday February 17, @03:34PM (1 child)
You should be able to understand the measurements because there is a ton[1] of information on this.
[1]a metric ton of information, not those Imperial units
While Republicans can get over Trump's sexual assaults, affairs, and vulgarity; they cannot get over Obama being black.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Friday February 17, @08:46PM
A metric ton is a tonne.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday February 18, @08:48PM
I agree completely. What's wrong with meters? To us Americans, that's just a couple inches longer than a yard. A kilometer is a bit over half a mile. It seems ever since everybody got a computer, everything's either measured to a ridiculously precise amount, or measured in football fields and olympic swimming pools.
Someone please tell the media to grow a brain.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience