Close shave...

[simonineaston]

Well, in the article they say not to worry, but I'm not convinced!

Apophis will come within 32,000km (20,000 miles) of Earth on Friday 13 April 2029, enabling astronomers to get a good look. That is about one-tenth of the distance to the moon and closer than the communication satellites that encircle the Earth at 36,000km.

Sounds awfully close to me! What happens if it takes out a couple of comm.s satellites as it passes? A chain reaction of frgaments-hitting-satellites?? I'm so going to keep my phone turned off on that day, just like my mum used to unplug the phone when there was a thunder-storm nearby...

[philvantwo]

You'll have to splash out on a smart TV and licence and watch it on the big screen!

[Jdsk]

Does it pass closer or further away if you wear a wig?

; - )

Jonathan

[661-Pete]

Any dinosaurs still roaming the Earth? If so, be afraid, be very very afraid...

In reality, this asteroid is probably only about 1/100,000th the mass of the Chicxulub impactor, which put paid to all the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. So it could do a lot of damage, but not that much damage...

But watch out for the Earth's only confirmed Trojan, an asteroid picturesquely named "2010 TK7". This little beauty (about the same size as Apophis) is orbiting the sun in the same orbit as Earth, but 60° ahead of it at the L4 Lagrangian point. In theory, it should be held stable in that position. In reality, it wanders all over the place chaotically, following a track shaped sometimes like a tadpole and sometimes like a horseshoe. The astronomers tell us, it's never going to come within 20 million Km of the Earth.

At least, that's what they tell us... But surely anything can happen in a chaotic system...?

Time to put that paper bag over your head...

[Jdsk]

In reality, this asteroid is probably only about 1/100,000th the mass of the Chicxulub impactor, which put paid to all the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

Not all, or so a little bird tells me...

Jonathan

[661-Pete]

In reality, this asteroid is probably only about 1/100,000th the mass of the Chicxulub impactor, which put paid to all the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

Not all, or so a little bird tells me...

OK - I lapsed into a 'popular science' trope. What I should have said, according to Wiki, is that the K-Pg extinction event was probably due to the Chicxulub impact, and that:

With the exception of some ectothermic species such as the sea turtles and crocodilians, no tetrapods weighing more than 25 kilograms (55 pounds) survived.

Your little feathered friend must have evolved from a dinosaur much smaller...

Anyway, once Apophis does hit us, I reckon it'll be the rats and the ants (or failing them, the tardigrades) who survive....

[[XAP]Bob]

Well, in the article they say not to worry, but I'm not convinced!

Apophis will come within 32,000km (20,000 miles) of Earth on Friday 13 April 2029, enabling astronomers to get a good look. That is about one-tenth of the distance to the moon and closer than the communication satellites that encircle the Earth at 36,000km.

Sounds awfully close to me! What happens if it takes out a couple of comm.s satellites as it passes? A chain reaction of frgaments-hitting-satellites?? I'm so going to keep my phone turned off on that day, just like my mum used to unplug the phone when there was a thunder-storm nearby...

Close is fine, it's not like the earth will get buffeted under the wheels of the asteroid as it passes.

I also suspect that it isn't coming in perfectly aligned with the equatorial plane, meaning it won't hit anything on the way past.

Space is big, really big, you just won't believe how incredibly big space is.

It's only LEO that's really crowded, though there is a fair crowd at geostationary, and obviously at the graveyard a few hundred km higher than that - but both of those are very tightly constrained to the equatorial plane, and all are prograde.

[Jdsk]

Anyway, once Apophis does hit us, I reckon it'll be the rats and the ants (or failing them, the tardigrades) who survive....

Isn't the smart money usually on cockroaches?

: - )

Jonathan