Dark, massive asteroid to fly by Earth on May 31

[limpyhobbler]

It's 1.7 miles long. Its surface is covered in a sticky black substance similar to the gunk at the bottom of a barbecue. If it impacted Earth it would probably result in global extinction. Good thing it is just making a flyby.

Asteroid 1998 QE2 will make its closest pass to Earth on May 31 at 1:59 p.m. PDT.

Scientists are not sure where this unusually large space rock, which was discovered 15 years ago, originated from. But the mysterious sooty substance on its surface could indicate it may be the result of a comet that flew too close to the sun, said Amy Mainzer, who tracks near-Earth objects at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge. It might also have leaked out of the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, she said.

We will know more after the asteroid zips closer to Earth and scientists using the Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone, Calif., and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico can get a better look at it. Astronomers at both observatories plan to track it closely from May 30 to June 9, according to a JPL release.
...

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-asteroid-1998-qe2-20130516,0,548201.story

[Thor_MN]

1. OMG!!! It's Cheney's heart!!!

[Sekhmets Daughter]

2. Cheney's heart is a myth...

...he's a cyborg. Nothing else would explain him.

[Scootaloo]

3. First day of my vacation.

It would just figurethat the global-extinction interplanetary death-briquette would show up just when I get my PTO...

[htuttle]

4. Telephone for Mr Zorg...paging Mr Zorg...

There's a Mr Shadow on the phone...

[ZRT2209]

5. one of my favorite movies ever!

Aziz! Light!

[Thor_MN]

11. I'm disaPOINTed!!!

[ProdigalJunkMail]

15. hehehehe...

[TreasonousBastard]

6. Awww, c'mon... Stop trying to scare us-- this thing will pass at...

better than 15 LDs and is no threat. A Lunar Distance is around a quarter million miles, so it will pass us by around 4 million miles. Give or take...

http://spaceweather.com/ and scroll down

Now, the ones that come between us and the moon are the ones to worry about...

[Judi Lynn]

7. Asteroid nine times the size of the QE2 liner to sail pass Earth

Asteroid nine times the size of the QE2 liner to sail pass Earth
John von Radowitz
Saturday 18 May 2013

An asteroid nine times larger than the QE2 is due to sail past the Earth later this month.
Luckily, the giant space rock will get no closer than 3.6 million miles, or 15 times the distance between the Earth and the moon.

Coincidentally, scientists have named the asteroid 1998 QE2. The name has nothing to do with the transatlantic Cunard liner - it follows a code used for newly-discovered asteroids by the US Minor Planet Centre in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The asteroid is believed to be about 1.7 miles long, or nine times the length of the Queen Elizabeth 2 ship.
It was discovered on August 19, 1998, by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (Linear) programme near Socorro, New Mexico.

The object makes its closest approach to Earth at 9.59pm, UK time, on May 31.

More:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/asteroid-nine-times-the-size-of-the-qe2-liner-to-sail-pass-earth-8621999.html

[TreasonousBastard]

8. The real question is will anyone ba able to see this thing...

with a backyard telescope.

I doubt it because it's black, small, and too far away, but you never know if conditions might be just right...

[TheMadMonk]

16. Not 9 times. Presuming similar dimentional ratios it's 700 & change...

...times larger, and in all liklihood considerably more still, since it's highly unlikely that a space rock will have the same proportions as an ocean liner. Nor is it at likely to be as hollow.

So maybe 1000 times the volume and 5-10,000 times the mass.

[AverageJoe90]

9. Well, good thing it's not hitting us, then.

My curiosity has been piqued, though: what is so special about this gunk on the asteroid that it would cause global extinction if it were to land versus just massive amounts of destruction?(or am I reading this wrong?)

[eppur_se_muova]

12. Sounds like tar sands. nt

[backwoodsbob]

14. size...not the gunk

that's a BIG rock.It would cause extinction level problems.

[TheMadMonk]

17. You're reading it wrong. It's the massive destruction alone.

This rock would be in Chicxulub (dinosaur killer) territory if it hit us.

The black tarry gunk only serves to identify what type of rock it is.

[Warren DeMontague]

10. Giant Space Poop!

[bvar22]

13. Only a matter of time.

And, for once, the Henny Pennys WILL be right,
if Climate Change doesn't kill us all first,
or the YellowStone Caldera doesn't erupt first,

...but I can hear them now, gloating all over DU:
SEE! We were RIGHT!
The Sky REALLY was falling!"
NOW who is the asshole, ASSHOLE??!!!
I expect apologies from ALL the NaySayers
who claimed they were just "Venting a little Steam!"

[pokerfan]

18. And it has a moon!

Surprise! Earth Passing Asteroid 1998 QE2 Has a Moon

Late yesterday, NASA turned the 230-foot (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California towards Asteroid 1998 QE2 as it was heading towards its closest approach to Earth, and they got a big surprise: the asteroid is a binary system. 1998 QE2 itself is 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers) in diameter, and the newly found orbiting moon is about 600 meters in diameter.

Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/102532/surprise-earth-passing-asteroid-1998-qe2-has-a-moon/#ixzz2UoDLvgyX

[limpyhobbler]

19. whoa. now that really is something. nt