Asteroid Nearly Misses Earth, Few Report It

[BurgundyNGold]

Apparently, earlier this week (March 3) an asteroid around the same size as the one that caused the flattening of about 800 square miles in Siberia in 1908 passed within 45,000 miles of the Earth. In cosmic terms, 45,000 is about 20% of the distance between the Earth and the moon, making it a close shave.

After the fact, I did a Google search on this event and very, very little was actually reported.

Here are a few links:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/03/phew_asteroids.html?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed6

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/03/03/asteroid.misses.earth/index.html

BTW, astronomers didn't even know this asteroid existed until LAST WEEK.

[Tha Boss Hogg]

Yikes, I hadn't heard anything about this AT ALL...

[rskinsfan10]

Maybe they sent Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck up there and they took care of it without much fanfare?

[BurgundyNGold]

Maybe they sent Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck up there and they took care of it without much fanfare?
What, they turned it into a bad movie and it died on DVD before it hit the atmosphere, lol?

[The_Sonny_Of_Sammy]

I might be wrong and I usually am, but would and asteroid impact make the recession worse?

[hail2skins]

This is being discussed on Facebook. :moon2: :p

[SkinsKY]

Apparently, earlier this week (March 3) an asteroid around the same size as the one that caused the flattening of about 800 square miles in Siberia in 1908 passed within 45,000 miles of the Earth. In cosmic terms, 45,000 is about 20% of the distance between the Earth and the moon, making it a close shave.

After the fact, I did a Google search on this event and very, very little was actually reported.

Here are a few links:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/03/phew_asteroids.html?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed6

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/03/03/asteroid.misses.earth/index.html

BTW, astronomers didn't even know this asteroid existed until LAST WEEK.

So, did it hit us or not? A near-miss means hit. ;)

It's impossible to know where everything is in the sky. My first thought was they were talking about apophis (mentioned in the article). That's the one that could do us in.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99942_Apophis

[BurgundyNGold]

So, did it hit us or not? A near-miss means hit. ;)

It's impossible to know where everything is in the sky. My first thought was they were talking about apophis (mentioned in the article). That's the one that could do us in.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99942_Apophis
Touche, lol. That's one of the funny things about language. It's called a near miss but it should be called a near hit. Or maybe they mean it was a miss, but it was near nonetheless. Who knows, lol. At least I'm not dead by asteroid. Yet. ;)

[BurgundyNGold]

This is being discussed on Facebook. :moon2: :p
What, the asteroid has its own Facebook page now? Jeebus, lol.

[WarEagle]

OT: Speaking of outerspace, the Space Shuttle Discovery launches tonight at 9:20PM eastern time. These usually air on the cable news networks.

UPDATE: The launch was scrubbed due to a leak in the external tank. They're supposed to try again tomorrow (Thursday). I'll post the time later on if I find it.