You know that movie, Armageddon, where there is this huge asteroid on a quasi-collision course with Earth... well in the real world there is this asteroid, TU24, and it'll be coming close to Earth on January 29th.
This asteroid has sizable mass and is purported to be as big as the Sears Tower, which is pretty damn huge. I'm guessing that everything is supposed to be fine, which is why we haven't heard anything about it, but then again, if something like this were going to happen, do you think our government would go ahead and induce mass chaos amongst the population? (I just saw Cloverfield last night, so you know I'm sensitive to these things; What does that movie have to do with this? Nothing really other than I thought it was better than expected and Manhattan got flattened) Anyway... I don't know a ton about astrophysics, but I learned a few things from this like:
1AU = 93 million miles.
TU24 will be about 0.0037AU from Earth on Jan 29 = ~344,100 miles.
Our moon is 0.0026AU from Earth.
So basically this asteroid, generally speaking in terms of the vast nature of space, will be getting pretty damn close.
Then there is this whole issue of a potential plasma discharge if the asteroid has a negative charge... anyone care to enlighten my poor little brain?
If you are interested, here is a link to the NASA website tracking the course of TU24.
OK, I know the sky isn't falling, my stocks are though, just trying to put things in perspective. I guess if a huge rock was about to destroy the world, or some beast was destroying my city, I wouldn't really give a damn that my 401k is taking one for the team.
If you're really into more nerd speak, here you go, straight from the experts:
Update, cause I know you are all patiently waiting. New Link.
This asteroid has sizable mass and is purported to be as big as the Sears Tower, which is pretty damn huge. I'm guessing that everything is supposed to be fine, which is why we haven't heard anything about it, but then again, if something like this were going to happen, do you think our government would go ahead and induce mass chaos amongst the population? (I just saw Cloverfield last night, so you know I'm sensitive to these things; What does that movie have to do with this? Nothing really other than I thought it was better than expected and Manhattan got flattened) Anyway... I don't know a ton about astrophysics, but I learned a few things from this like:
1AU = 93 million miles.
TU24 will be about 0.0037AU from Earth on Jan 29 = ~344,100 miles.
Our moon is 0.0026AU from Earth.
So basically this asteroid, generally speaking in terms of the vast nature of space, will be getting pretty damn close.
Then there is this whole issue of a potential plasma discharge if the asteroid has a negative charge... anyone care to enlighten my poor little brain?
If you are interested, here is a link to the NASA website tracking the course of TU24.
OK, I know the sky isn't falling, my stocks are though, just trying to put things in perspective. I guess if a huge rock was about to destroy the world, or some beast was destroying my city, I wouldn't really give a damn that my 401k is taking one for the team.
If you're really into more nerd speak, here you go, straight from the experts:
Update, cause I know you are all patiently waiting. New Link.
007 TU24 Interval of close approach predictibility
---------------------------------------------------
From Jon Giorgini, 2008 Jan. 18:
The 2007 TU24 sol #17 interval is now 1890 - 2008.
This is largely due to there not being other close approaches for the next
few decades after this very close approach in 2008 (0.0037 AU) and then a
somewhat close one in 2046 (0.019 AU).
Date (CT) Body CA Dist MinDist MaxDist Vrel TCA3Sg Nsigs P_i/p
----------------- ----- ------- ------- ------- ------ ------ ------ -------
1750 Nov 27.50180 Earth .089278 .081438 .136523 9.368 23142. 25317. .000000
....
1890 Dec 04.01632 Earth .084277 .079805 .089713 9.040 3754.7 22823. .000000
1911 Jan 03.56964 Earth .054638 .045672 .064380 8.072 10714. 11733. .000000
1930 Dec 06.90665 Earth .080687 .075038 .092864 8.939 10151. 23371. .000000
1960 Jan 24.70670 Vesta .054213 .019047 .090536 12.291 1567.5 1515.9 .000000
1999 Dec 30.34491 Vesta .083841 .074741 .092945 12.613 471.02 931.17 .000000
2008 Jan 29.35570 Earth .003704 .003702 .003706 9.248 7.52 7626.1 .000000
....
2029 Jan 07.16022 Vesta .088738 .068060 .109525 11.258 390.99 1924.1 .000000
2046 Jan 18.30808 Earth .019217 .004279 .059568 8.193 21570. 4936.4 .000000
Last update: 2008 January 18
2 comments:
Wow, you managed to fit astronomy, a few movie references, and your stock investments all into one post! Coincidentally, I was wearing my new "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" T-shirt (which features a giant asteroid hurtling towards the earth) for the first time when I read your post.
You always have the best tees. Still have my Onion shirt 'Your Favorite Band Sucks' which I believe you gave me. In a couple more years it will be vintage.
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