Interesting story in this morning’s paper.
Chilling! Thanks.
Well, we do have an African-American President, just like in those movies… whaddja expect? 
Just how much force would have been unleashed if it would have hit earth?
I kind of wishing that it had hit. I would gladly take a short-term winter over the one we’re having now.
What I read the other day: something on the order of a smallish atomic bomb. It would pretty much wipe out a city if it happened to hit one…
Since the Earth is mostly ocean, and that would make the odds greater that the thing would fall in the water, wouldn’t you hate to be making a solo crossing of one of the oceans in a small boat when that thing decided to come down on your section of water? Taking one for the Gipper, my ass!
:dubious: It may be more likely to land in water, but whether you personally are on land or water makes no difference to its chances of hitting you.
Wow, the large diagram in the linked article is misleading. The article says the asteroid passed at a distance of around 60,000 km, but it was drawn like it was passing a couple of hundred kilometres above the surface.
Anybody know how bright that thing got magnitude wise?
Granted. I was just remarking on how shitty it would be if it hit the ocean and you were the ONLY one it hit.
pretty sure that if something of that size had hit water it would cause tsunamis so big that you wouldn’t be the only one killed by it.
Just a bit of artistic licence, naturally. It has to look like we just dodged a bullet.
If that! That diagram made it look like it juuuuust missed the atmosphere!
Joe
There was one in the 70’s? that actually passed through the earths atmosphere and headed back out.
IIIRC its wasnt big big, maybe small small nuclear bomb or large gas plant explosion big.
I remember a video someone captured of it in broad daylight as it passed (visually) over the Tetons?. IIRC it passed up the west coast.
That woulda been one bright fireball at night!
10.5. But that was at it’s closest and you had to be on the Aussie side of the Earth. (Magnitude 13 is what was generally quoted for most viewers on the nights before/after closest approach.) So you needed good tracking skills and equipment.
Well, at least I am now not pissed that I missed seeing something cool.
I remember seeing comet IRAS Araki Alcock back in the early 80’s. I forget how exactly close it came to earth, but it easily visible for 2 or 3 days and crossed half the sky in one day. It was this glowing greenish cloud something like 4 to 6 times bigger in apparent size than the moon. That was pretty neat.