skyandtelescope.com — A small asteroid will pass close to Earth tomorrow (March 2nd) at 13:44 Universal Time. How close? The MPC's Timothy Spahr calculates that it'll be 0.00047 astronomical unit from Earth's center. That's only about 40,000 miles (63,500 km) up
Mar 1, 2009 View in Crawl 4
david76Mar 2, 2009
your attempt at humor was deprecated.
melektawusMar 2, 2009
This rock is pretty harmless, even if it did hit us. <a class="user" href="http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/impacteffects/">http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/impacteffects/</a>It would break up in the atmosphere, a piece of it would have to fall directly on your house to do any damage.
firesightsMar 2, 2009
Yes, because letting it hit without warning certainly wouldn't cause any mass hysteria or anything of the sort. "Oh hey what's that burning thing in the sk-AHHHHHHHHHH MY EYES AND FACE!"It's a very small asteroid anyway.
sho222Mar 2, 2009
NASA's mission is to advance and communicate scientific knowledge and understanding of the earth, the solar system, and the universe. Sending people to the Moon and Mars fits their mission. Deflecting space rocks would be the responsibility of some sort of "Earth Defense Force" if one existed.
foreignwarrenMar 2, 2009
In cosmic terms, an asteroid passing only 40,000km from Earth is like a bullet passing through your sleeve and not hitting you. (paraphrasing from "A Brief History of Almost Everything"...with the author describing an asteroid passing 60,000km from Earth in year 2000.)In other words...."Whew"
jqp123Mar 2, 2009
"NASA's mission is to advance and communicate scientific knowledge and understanding of the earth, the solar system, and the universe."And to build a $150 billion space hotel for super rich tourists.
jarasmenMar 3, 2009
Great site, thanks!