# Close encounter with an asteroid yesterday morning **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 3, 2009, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-encounter-with-an-asteroid-yesterday-morning/488191 "2009-03-03T21:30:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-encounter-with-an-asteroid-yesterday-morning/488191/1 "2009-03-03T21:30:34Z")
[Interesting story](http://www.smh.com.au/national/asteroid-plays-chicken-with-earth-20090303-8nge.html) in this morning’s paper. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-encounter-with-an-asteroid-yesterday-morning/488191/2 "2009-03-03T21:53:29Z")
Chilling! Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-encounter-with-an-asteroid-yesterday-morning/488191/3 "2009-03-03T21:58:17Z")
Well, we _do_ have an African-American President, just like in those movies… whaddja expect? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-encounter-with-an-asteroid-yesterday-morning/488191/4 "2009-03-03T21:59:24Z")
Just how much force would have been unleashed if it would have hit earth? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-encounter-with-an-asteroid-yesterday-morning/488191/5 "2009-03-03T22:01:46Z")
> [@](#): > > Mr McNaught said one that was just 300 metres wide could throw the world into “a short-term winter” I kind of wishing that it had hit. I would gladly take a short-term winter over the one we’re having now. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-encounter-with-an-asteroid-yesterday-morning/488191/6 "2009-03-03T22:08:48Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Just how much force would have been unleashed if it would have hit earth? 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… ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-encounter-with-an-asteroid-yesterday-morning/488191/7 "2009-03-03T22:16:19Z")
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! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-encounter-with-an-asteroid-yesterday-morning/488191/8 "2009-03-03T22:26:29Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > 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**. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-encounter-with-an-asteroid-yesterday-morning/488191/9 "2009-03-03T22:27:34Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-encounter-with-an-asteroid-yesterday-morning/488191/10 "2009-03-03T22:33:55Z")
Anybody know how bright that thing got magnitude wise? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-encounter-with-an-asteroid-yesterday-morning/488191/11 "2009-03-03T22:34:52Z")
> [@G. Odoreida](#): > > :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**. Granted. I was just remarking on how shitty it would be if it hit the ocean and you were the ONLY one it hit. ---
**Author:** ![mutantmoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mutantmoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mutantmoose)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-encounter-with-an-asteroid-yesterday-morning/488191/12 "2009-03-03T23:16:44Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-encounter-with-an-asteroid-yesterday-morning/488191/13 "2009-03-04T03:47:26Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > 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. Just a bit of artistic licence, naturally. It has to look like we just dodged a bullet. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-encounter-with-an-asteroid-yesterday-morning/488191/14 "2009-03-04T07:45:50Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > 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. If that! That diagram made it look like it juuuuust missed the atmosphere! Joe ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-encounter-with-an-asteroid-yesterday-morning/488191/15 "2009-03-04T14:55:53Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > 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! ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-encounter-with-an-asteroid-yesterday-morning/488191/16 "2009-03-04T14:55:57Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Anybody know how bright that thing got magnitude wise? [10.5](http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/40504617.html). 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. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-encounter-with-an-asteroid-yesterday-morning/488191/17 "2009-03-04T15:10:06Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > [10.5](http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/40504617.html). 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. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-encounter-with-an-asteroid-yesterday-morning/488191/18 "2009-03-04T15:38:37Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > There was one in the 70’s? that actually passed through the earths atmosphere and headed back out. I think you’re referring to [this one.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M8LQ7_hWtE) Would have been cool to actually see it…