In the latest stream of celestial passing's; on Saturday March 10th, a 460 foot long asteroid flew past earth. It past as close as 600,000 miles which is 2-1/2, about the moon's length from Earth. The asteroid was discovered about a week ago, so the president of Slooh Space Camera; Patrick Paolucci said, "The scary part of this one is that it's something we didn't even know about." Patrick Paolucci made this comment during a webcast that featured live images of the asteroid from a telescope in the Canary Islands. I find it alarming that this asteroid moved about 26,000 miles per hour and it could have destroyed a whole city. Also,if the asteroid would have hit the damages would have reached even further across the earth. I find this also fascinating that two other small asteroids, about the size of the Russian's meteor will be headed straight for Earth's path, this weekend. Paul Cox, a Slooh telescope engineer commented on the findings," We're not sitting here on our pale, blue dot on our own in nice safety... this should be a wakeup call to governments."
A NASA Scientist had said that only about 10 percent of the more tiny asteroids have been discovered. For scientist and engineers this is a great opportunity to devote more time in discovering more comets or asteroids heading towards Earth, in the days to come. It will also assist NASA to hopefully; with enough time, to send a spacecraft to possibly halt a catastrophic event.
A NASA Scientist had said that only about 10 percent of the more tiny asteroids have been discovered. For scientist and engineers this is a great opportunity to devote more time in discovering more comets or asteroids heading towards Earth, in the days to come. It will also assist NASA to hopefully; with enough time, to send a spacecraft to possibly halt a catastrophic event.
Hi Heather,
ReplyDeleteIt is alarming that the president of the Slooth Space Camera was not aware of the asteroid that passed earth. This is a problem because this affects everyone on the planet earth. So what happens if multiple asteroids head towards the earth and nobody notices it? Will mankind exist? The government needs to step up and provide solutions, in case asteroids get too close to our planet. I know we cannot eliminate every asteroids, maybe NASA should create a device which can redirect the asteroids to a different area. Great post.
Hi Heather. I really don't know how to react to this. I spend so much time scurrying about my day, that the thought of a meteor that could possibly destroy my world never crossed my mind. I agree with the engineers that this is a wakeup call, and as a society, we should be more prepared. There is so much going on outside of our little planet, and we should be up-to-speed on these kinds of events.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up!