build on yesterday ’s theme , we have close encounters with space - rock’n’roll all the clip . Here ’s your rhythm - up of recent past , forthcoming future , and newly - discovered things that are n’t run into us .
Yesterday at 7:20 PST,2014EFmoseyed by at 0.4 lunar distances , then cuddle up to the moon less than three hour later . In between those two approaches at 8:34 PST,2014DO7strolled through our area , although at 27.4 lunar distances , it ’s was n’t even interesting enough to get reflexive panic plan of attack from the most spastic of news brass . ( Technically , all these time are really Barycentric Dynamical Time , the solar arrangement ’s time zone . I ’ve translate into Pacific Standard Time by deduct 8 hours , but it ’s really 8 hours , 34 seconds . Now you know my dirty , foul lies . )
Remember how several of you commentedthat it ’s not unusual for us to only recognise these tilt after they ’ve whizzed past ? Well , astronomers got their first peep at2014ECyesterday , getting in just enough observations to plot its probable orbit just over 38 time of day before its closest approaching , within 0.2 lunar distances today at 1:29 pm PST . That ’s only the first of our visitors for Wednesday — minutes later at 1:40 pm,2000 EE14will stroll past at a epicurean 64.6 lunar distances away , followed by2014 DH10at 4 pm at a still nicely spacious 29.1 lunar distances .
https://gizmodo.com/we-will-not-be-obliterated-by-an-asteroid-today-1536717058
EC2014 will be come so close to the Earth today that the label overlap in a tiny , undecipherable passel . Screenshot from theJPL Small Bodies web browser , a site that sound enigmatically NSFW but is n’t .
At 0.4 lunar distances , 0.2 lunar distances , 2014EF and 2014EC are going to be truly close . Worse , with special observance data on 2014EC , we could be incorrect about its orbital parametric quantity . Yet , I ’m still altogether positive that neither of them are operate to kill us . Why ? Both are in the 5 to 15 beat diam range . That ’s not an asteroid , that ’s a space - pebble ! They ’re so small , they do n’t even count in the list of the roughly 20 penny-pinching - Earth object we ’ll encounter each year .
The orbital parameter describe that both asteroids are moving at a respectable tempo ( 15 kilometre / s ) . Going for a worst - eccentric scenario of a maximum diameter ( 15 m ) iron asteroid hitting dead - on at 90 degrees ( a glancing reverse would be far more likely with an orbital miscalculation ) , an asteroid that small would blow up nearly 2 kilometres up in the atmosphere . The air blast would be smutty — over 100 dB of noise , and winds topping out at 195 m / s ( 435 mph ) , damaging bridgework , shatter window , and blowing down tree diagram . Any rock fragment would rain down down , create a volcanic crater field in the immediate vicinity . That ’s it . That ’s the very , very high-risk 2014EC could do to us . ( Dear impact calculator : I love you . Thank you for all your tasty data . )
Actually , it ’s 2000 EE14 that scare me , and makes me very beaming we ’ve been tracking it for a several years . We know it ’s orbit within less than a arcsecond : it ’s going where we think it ’s going . That make me breathe easier , because EE14 is somewhere between 1 and 2 kilometres diam . That ’s big enough that if this sentence when I head over to the wallop computer , I use nice , friendly - to - humans assumptions of a medium - tightness tilt and a glancing blow ( alas , still at 15 kilometer / s — we know that from observation already ) , that mug would create a massive , complex impact crater 10 kilometres across and half a kilometer deep . Barringer Crater in Arizona is only 1 kilometre across !
Barringer Crater , also recognize as Meteor Crater , is a pipsqueek 1 kilometer diameter compare to the 10 kilometer Hell we ’d savor if EE14 doss into us . Image processed by the Earth Observatory .
It ’s not just the volcanic crater that would be problematic . That sucker would give rise a magnitude 7.7 temblor , and an air clap so intense that on the opposite side of the planet , a full 20,000 kilometres aside , people would still learn a 40 dB growl . Ok , fine , that is n’t very flash ( fowl calls are 44 dB ) , but to still be able-bodied to hear the impact , unaided , on the far side of the major planet is telling . A ok coating of dust would blanket the planet , which can lead to all sorts of trickle - down climatic effect , screwing with the ( relatively ) good affair we ’ve got going on . Sure , it ’s not a planet - cause of death , but it ’d certainly make for an passing big twenty-four hours for a expectant chunk of people . Good thing it ’s not work to happen this reach , or from the looks of it , on any close approach it will make to us , our lunar month , or any other planet , for the next 200 year .
A big rock , one on decree of a kilometre across like EE14 , stumble the Earth approximatelyonce every 10 million years . I , for one , am very happy that today we are n’t beating those odds for salient demise . At least , not today …
Need more asteroid goodness?Astro Bob has more data on observing 2014 EC.Keep track ofclose approaches by Near Earth object on the JPL website , or by following@AsteroidWatch on Twitter .
rectification : An earliest version of this article listed the velocity as 15 G / s , not 15 kilometer / s. Thanks to engineer Eric for bug that there ’s nothing respectable about crawling around in a 15 yard / s domain ! order of magnitude : the subject .
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