A VERY REAL NEAR MISS! ASTEROID DEAD AHEAD!

Most of the near misses we speak of are 140,000 miles (I refer you to 2012 XE54). The one that we shall see next month, Asteroid 2012 DA14, will be much closer. A mere 32,000 km, that’s 20,000 miles. Now that is a near miss!

On February 15th, DA14 passes us by having passed us on February 22nd of last year but 2.6 million km at that time. Does this mean that next year it will impact us? No. The next pass will have no effect. But still, 20,000 miles means the asteroid is well inside our geosynchronous orbits which are around 26,000 miles from Earth. A lot of what one finds on this topic is how much scientists will learn and that is certainly true. I hope that one of the things they are aiming to learn is how to effect a change in the asteroids course.

Far from an Asteroid of Earth ending proportions, it could leave a mark! It is said that an asteroid of this size (estimated to be 40 meters across and have a mass of 130,000 tons) would cause an explosion equal to about 2.5 megatons of TNT. Even though according to scientists there will be nothing to worry about when it makes its next pass, we need to face the truth. Asteroids pose a real threat and we have had a long time not having to worry about it, but if we want to keep living here a bit longer, probably best if we figured out how to deal this threat!

My suggestion would be to look into the repulsor beam technology that the professor Winglee at the University of Washington is proposing for interplanetary flight. Magnetized plasma beam propulsion may or may not be able to be utilized as he envisions it, or at least not right now, but it may have merit for use in sending an Asteroid away from us! (The beam is envisioned as a way to send a space ship out – no engines on board, with the beam handling the propulsion from the Earth and another beam at the other end to slow the ship down.)

WILL YOU BE ABLE TO SEE THIS ASTEROID? IF YOU LIVE IN EUROPE OR ASIA, YES, BUT ONLY FOR A SHORT TIME. PASSING QUICKLY AND THEN OFF INTO THE MORNING LIGHT WITH 18 MINUTES OF PASSING THROUGH THE EARTH’S SHADOW, THE WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY IS RATHER SMALL.http://events.slooh.com/ WILL PROVIDE LIVE COVERAGE AS WILL http://www.virtualtelescope.eu/webtv/