For a while now we've known of an astroid near earth in the Sun's orbit, its a little guy at just about 150 ft in diameter. But if it hit us it wouldn't be good. There were some rumors circulating about this asteroid hitting earth. This s NOT true. On February 16, of 2012 it passed us with a good amount of space in between, about 1.5 million miles. This astroid comes by us about every six months. Although that was not a very close miss, next year was a skeptical year regarding weather or not we would get hit. In February it was proven that it will miss us next year, contrary to some of the rumors going around. It will get pretty close though next year, at about 17,000 miles. This is a clean miss on human terms, but in atronomy it will shave the hair on our chins. So at least for another year were safe!
I thought this was interesting because we know already what will happen. Its really cool that we can use math and observation to predict our future. I thought that it was crazy to think that we are actually getting close to getting hit, but fortunatly we have enough information to tell when/if that will happen.
With an astroid that large, if it hit earth, what would the damage be? Seems like it could take out a large area.
ReplyDeletei recall from the simulator at the planeterium that even a small asteroid, if it were to hit Denver, would cause tremors in Boulder. The larger ones would have effects on par with a massive nuclear bomb, causing third degree burns and singed clothing as far away as fort collins. Scary stuff!
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