NASA to Chronicle Close Earth Flyby of Asteroid (LIVE 2pm tomorrow)

[underpants]

Source: Frickin NASA!!!

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA Television will provide commentary starting at 2 p.m. EST (11 a.m. PST) on Friday, Feb. 15, during the close, but safe, flyby of a small near-Earth asteroid named 2012 DA14. NASA places a high priority on tracking asteroids and protecting our home planet from them. This flyby will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study a near-Earth object up close.

At the time of its closest approach to Earth at approximately 2:25 p.m. EST (11:25 a.m. PST/ 19:25 UTC), the asteroid will be about 17,150 miles (27,600 kilometers) above Earth's surface.

The commentary will be available via NASA TV and streamed live online at:


http://www.nasa.gov/ntv




Read more: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2013/feb/HQ_M13-031_Asteroid_Flyby_Coverage.html

[RobertEarl]

1. This is the closest one yet

At least since NASA was formed. We know earth has been hit before, even NASA says so. And just look at the cratered Moon!

I for one hope NASA tells us if one is gonna hit us. Or do I? Hmmm....

[longship]

7. We'll know if one is going to hit, if anybody knows.

Asteroid orbit parameters are not something kept secret. They cannot be kept secret because thousands of amateur astronomers participate in making the measurements and even discovering them. These are just ordinary people who just happen to have the proper equipment, or access to it. Without them, we wouldn't know all of what we know.

All asteroid data is public. NASA doesn't control it; no government controls it. The Earth rotates on its axis and no one country can see a body in space 24/7.

The one we should all worry about is the undetected asteroid or (horrors) a comet coming from a direction near the sun's location in the sky. These are pretty much undetectable from Earth and might not be detected at all until it slams into the Earth. A comet would be very bad, because they are fast and the energy goes as the square of the velocity. Twice as fast means four times the energy. Yikes!

No worries, though. There are top people on this. Men and women and hundreds of telescopes pointing toward the heavens photographing star fields looking for those elusive moving little blips of light. You get four positions, you've got a preliminary orbit calculation. Then, you let everybody else know so that they can help out. If it has a well defined orbit, you get to name it.

If you discover a comet, it gets your name on it.

Astronomy is very cool.

[RobertEarl]

8. So we will know

I wonder who would have enough courage to be the first to claim that we are going to get hit. Could you?

Heard that next year this one could come back and hit us.

And lest say there were more than few who did think one was going to hit the home planet. How in the world would the people here take the news?

[longship]

10. It couldn't be kept secret.

The press would be all over it. That's why astronomers have the Torino scale to put a number on how likely a collision is.

And all the data is available on the Intertubes, free for nothin. Anybody can download it and do their own analysis.

Nota bene: no known potentially dangerous body is in any way in an orbit where it could hit Earth.

If we find one that looks bad, we will likely have decades to change its orbit. No!! Attempting to blow it up with a nuke would be a very bad idea -- wouldn't work anyway.

Check out the B612 Foundation, a group of extremely geeky people whose sole purpose is to save the planet from asteroid collisions.

As I said, astronomy is awesome and very cool.

And, no. 2012DA14 will not come back and hit us next year.

The latest Planetary Radio podcast has details on 2012DA14. And Dr. Phil Plait at the Bad Astronomy Blog has covered it as well.

[bluedigger]

2. "protecting our home planet from them"?

Does this mean they have an actual operational plan, as opposed to a Hollywood script?

eta: And what are they implying by calling Earth our "home" planet?

[BumRushDaShow]

3. !!!

[Towlie]

9. Bruce Willis is standing by.

[underpants]

17. I was going to post the group-walk pic from that movie

[AtheistCrusader]

16. There are a number of working possibilities. We've sent stuff up to flyby and orbit

comets and such, and every one of those missions yields data we can use. For instance, you can 'tug' one of the objects using microgravity. Just park a satellite near it, and let the gravitational attraction of the satellite pull the object off course over a long period of time, very little thrust is necessary to produce a BIG trajectory change, over a long enough time span. The earlier you catch it, the better, the easier to make it 'miss' the Earth.

We don't have any other planets TO call home right now.

[Bosonic]

4. 19:25 UTC

[davidpdx]

15. Thanks

I'd love to see a thread dedicated to re-posting these from now until it leaves the moon's orbit.

[RoccoR5955]

5. NASA is the best of my tax dollars spent

We have gotten more knowledge from NASA than I can start to mention.
I am a big fan of NASA, and always have been.

Did you know that we have spent as much on NASA in its entire lifetime, as it costs for our military in Afghanistan in a month?
Some bang for the buck, huh?

[davidpdx]

14. I have always appreciated NASA and the new knowledge we gain from space exploration

I only wish we had more to put toward space exploration. The ending of the shuttle program was a mistake. I fear it maybe years before we send another person up on our own. Meanwhile the Russians get to leech off of us.

[kentauros]

20. And "space" isn't the only thing NASA researches.

How many people even pay attention to these things any more:



"Wingtip Device" (aka, "winglet&quot

I think most people either forget, or simply don't know, just how much NASA has done for aeronautics. I doubt our skies would be nearly as safe without them.

So, how about we take that $46 billion to be cut (or was to be cut?) from the Pentagon's budget and give it all to NASA's civilian programs?

[LeftInTX]

6. I think if it hits the earth, it will hit the eastern hemisphere

The bad news: It will be light in the western hemisphere and we won't get to see it.

[underpants]

18. There is always the downside isn't there?

[mainer]

21. Closest flyby point is Indonesia

And possibly visible from Australia via telescope.

[exboyfil]

11. If this doesn't make you take notice

Then nothing will. Inside the orbit of our satellites and way inside the orbit of the moon.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

13. I wanna see one actually hit the moon....

Imagine a new crater and the flying dust.

[bigworld]

19. What region will be below it as it passes?

Will it be able to be seen at all?