Cape Canaveral, Florida (AP) - An asteroid 150 meters wide will come very close to Earth next week, even closer than the high-altitude communications and weather satellites. This flyby will be closer to known objects of this size.But do not worry. Scientists have promised Megarock at least 17.100 miles away when the hinge through next Friday.
"No impact the Earth is possible," said Donald Yeomans, manager of the Near-Earth Object Program at NASA Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., on Thursday.
Even the possibility of an asteroid-satellite walk-in very remote, Yeomans and other scientists said. A few hundred satellites orbit at 22,300 mph, higher than that of the asteroids, though operators have been warned of an incoming object for monitoring purposes.
"Nobody raised a red flag, and they did not," he told reporters Yeomans. "I certainly do not favor any problems."
It 's impossible to see with the naked eye, these little things Considered by asteroids. Instead, I took out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago is 6 miles wide.
Asteroid 2012 DA14 However, as is well known at the time of its discovery, it can still pack a wallop.
If it hits the Earth - It would not, scientists were quick to add to Thursday - would release the energy equivalent of 2.4 million tons of TNT, and the removal of 750 square miles. This is what happened in Siberia in 1908, when the forest land around the asteroid Tunguska River leveled by a little 'smaller bomb exploded about five miles above the earth.
It is likely that this is the size hitting the Earth once every 1200 years. A meeting near dangerous as it is expected to occur every 40 years.
Most of the asteroids in the solar system is located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and still is not stable for billions of years. Some pop out from time to time, however, for the Earth
This closest approach will take place on Friday afternoon, Eastern time, throughout Indonesia.
There will be many shows. Asteroid will zip by at 17.400 mph. This is about eight times faster than a rifle bullet from a high velocity.
The asteroid will be visible to the naked eye and with binoculars and telescopes will appear as a small point of light. What is the first look will be in Asia, Australia and Eastern Europe.
Observers in the United States can safely forget. Astronomers using NASA's deep space antenna in the Mojave Desert of California would have to wait eight hours after closest approach to capture radar images.
Scientists include all the images they get. Asteroid offers a unique opportunity to observe something so big and close, and any new knowledge will help you if and when another asteroid murderess direct way to the ground.
Close approach also highlights the need to keep track of what is out there, if only to protect the planet.
Count when NASA near-Earth objects: just under 10,000, the result of a concentrated effort over the past 15 years. It is estimated that less than 10 per cent of the objects out there.
No one was excluded Earth severe impact, although said to be very low probability.
"We do not have all the money in the world to do this kind of work" to track and potentially divert asteroids, said Lindley Johnson, an executive with the Near-Earth Object Program observations of Washington.
In fact, when asked NASA plans to send astronauts to an asteroid in the next decade, as explained a few years ago by President Barack Obama, Johnson said the space agency is considering a number of options for human exploration.
A forward step in December, scheduled for 2016, is the launch of the space shuttle to fly in a much larger asteroid, collect samples and bring them back to Earth in 2023.
Asteroid 2012 DA14 - was discovered last year by astronomers in Spain - scientists suspect that it was made of silicate rocks, but I'm not sure. The exact shape and size is also a mystery.
What we know for sure:
"Orbit is so well known that objects are not random collisions," he repeated Yeomans During a press conference Thursday.
Close approach, in fact, will change its orbit around the sun in order to stay out of the earth, at least in the future, said Yeomans.
Johnson anticipates no "thing that the sky is falling" in reference to the flyby of next week.
He and other scientists invited journalists to keep a close encounter in the future.
"Space rock hit the Earth's atmosphere every day of basketball size object like a day .. Volkswagen-sized objects like every couple of weeks," said Yeomans.
The grand total of stuff hit the atmosphere every day? "About 100 tons", according to Yeoman, though most arrive without danger as sand particle sizes.
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