Asteroid the Size of the Tunguska Impactor of 1908 Just Missed the Earth Yesterday
Near Earth Object 2009 DD45, estimated to be around 120 feet in diameter, passed within 38,000 miles from the Earth's surface yesterday morning (March 2, 2009) at 8:44 AM Eastern US time. It was detected for the first time only two days earlier -- Not very much warning had it been on a collision course with Earth.
Comments:
Now that would have put an end to this recession, with all that new building work and everything.... <img class='' src='http://new.astromart.com/astromart/javascripts/sceditor/emoticons/smile.png' alt='smile' title='smile'/>
I am not sure my homeowner's would have covered that!<br>Humbling indeed.
Naw, He would have made it a direct hit on Washington D. C.
I suspect this one might have slipped detection because it was lost in the glow of light pollution at various points in its travels towards the earth.<br>The pollution is getting so bad I understand some observatories can't filter it out any longer.<br>The dinosaurs never saw the asteroid hurtling through space that caused their extinction. And with increasing light pollution blinding our observatories, neither will we...
Imagine a rock like this coming in and impacing at an extemely shallow angle. What would the damage be like? Is there any statistical database that predicts impact angle distribution as well as types of damage that might be expected from near vertical to near horizontal? The idea of a 300 foot diameter red hot ember rolling agross the countryside at Mach 25 is just weird.
Ron:<br><br>Here is one study from the American Geophysical Union:<br><br>http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007AGUFM.U22A..01W<br><br>... and a computer program at the University of Arizona:<br><br>http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/impacteffects/<br><br>... and some simulated images from the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin:<br><br>http://apophis.naturkundemuseum-berlin.de/homepage/oblique.htm<br><br>Interesting stuff. So I guess we can conclude that scientists are thinking about the subject of an oblique impact.<br><br>Guy Pirro<br><br><br><blockquote class="blockquote"><div class="italic"><i>Ronald Abraham said:</i><br><br>Imagine a rock like this coming in and impacing at an extemely shallow angle. What would the damage be like? Is there any statistical database that predicts impact angle distribution as well as types of damage that might be expected from near vertical to near horizontal? The idea of a 300 foot diameter red hot ember rolling agross the countryside at Mach 25 is just weird.</div></blockquote>
