Huge asteroid hurtling towards Earth

[mikebratcher69]

Huge asteroid hurtling towards Earth will fly past our planet so close it will go UNDER many man-made satellites

A 150-foot asteroid orbiting Earth called 2012 DA14 will pass so close to Earth it will fly UNDER man-made satellites orbiting our planet.

Nasa's Impact Risk report said that the odds of the space rock actually hitting our planet are very low indeed - but on February 15 next year it will pass just 17,000 miles from Earth, closer than 'geostationary' satellites.

If an asteroid of that size hit our planet, it would cause an explosion similar to a nuclear blast.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/a...nomer.html

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Trajectory Unclear: Feb 2013 Asteroid Will Be Within Thousands of Miles of Earth; Impact Would Be As Big As Siberian Tunguska Event; 1000 Times More Powerful Than Hiroshima

http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/tr...a_03042012

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Should a Tunguska type event occur on our planet today, especially over a populated metropolitan area, millions would be killed instantly, with many millions more being affected by the social and economic reverberations that may result from the catastrophe.

According to NASA, there is a distinct possibility that an asteroid recently identified by star gazers in Spain could hit Earth around February 15, 2013. Based on its size and trajectory, it’s estimated that the 60 to 100 meter wide asteroid, dubbed 2012 DA14, could be similar in scope and devastation to Tunguska should it enter our atmosphere.

Scientists aren’t exactly sure where on Earth the impact would occur, but they are sounding proximity warnings now:

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The asteroid, known as DA14, will pass by our planet in February 2013 at a distance of under 27,000 km (16,700 miles). This is closer than the geosynchronous orbit of some satellites.

There is a possibility the asteroid will collide with Earth, but further calculation is required to estimate the potential threat and work out how to avert possible disaster, NASA expert Dr. David Dunham told students at Russia’s University of Electronics and Mathematics.

“The Earth’s gravitational field will alter the asteroid’s path significantly. Further scrupulous calculation is required to estimate the threat of collision,” said Dr. Dunham, as transcribed by Russia’s Izvestia. “The asteroid may break into dozens of small pieces, or several large lumps may split from it and burn up in the atmosphere. The type of the asteroid and its mineral structure can be determined by spectral analysis. This will help predict its behavior in the atmosphere and what should be done to prevent the potential threat,” said Dr. Dunham.

In the event of a collision, scientists have calculated that the energy released would equate to the destructive power of a thermo-nuclear bomb.

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hile the chances of earth being hit by a ‘global killer’ during our lifetime is remote, the Tunguska event and DA14′s near-earth passing next year is strong evidence that smaller impacts do happen quite regularly – perhaps at least once a century. DA14 may not be a global killer, but it is certainly large enough to destroy an entire city or region, an event that could lead to destabilization and systemic, cascading collapse in other parts of our intertwined modern day economic, financial and political systems.