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Asteroid Near-Misses (AKA: Holy Shit! We're All Going to Die)

A small asteroid did a very close fly-by on October 24, and astronomers didn't detect it until it had passed by earth.
An asteroid barely missed Earth last week, and no one knew it was coming

An asteroid about the size of a refrigerator shot past Earth last week, and astronomers didn't know the object existed until hours after it was gone.

It was a close call (from a cosmic perspective); the space rock's trajectory on Oct. 24 carried it over Antarctica within 1,800 miles (3,000 kilometers) of Earth — closer than some satellites — making it the third-closest asteroid to approach the planet without actually hitting it, CNET reported.

Scientists were unaware of the object, dubbed Asteroid 2021 UA1, because it approached Earth's daytime side from the direction of the sun, so the comparatively dim and small visitor went undetected until about 4 hours after passing by at its closest point ...

But with a diameter of just 6.6 feet (2 meters), UA1 was too small to pose a threat. Even if it had struck Earth, most of its rocky body would have burned away in the atmosphere before it could hit the ground ...
FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/surprise-asteroid-flyby
 
Ah yes, using the S.I. for asteroids there... "about the size of a refrigerator"
 
2 meters? It's more like a meteorite then.
 
The next asteroid to cross earth's path will miss us by over 4 million miles on April Fools' Day ...
'Potentially hazardous asteroid' will make its closest-ever approach to Earth on April Fools' Day (yes, really)

Astronomers have confirmed that a "potentially hazardous" asteroid is set to make its closest-ever approach to Earth this Friday (April 1). However, there is no need to panic; astronomers say the massive space rock will miss us by around 4.6 million miles (7.4 million kilometers).

The asteroid, known as 2007 FF1, is between 360 feet and 656 feet (110 and 260 meters) in diameter, according to SpaceReference.com, a database that compiles information from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and the International Astronomical Union. The rock 2007 FF1 is known as an Apollo-class asteroid, of which there are around 15,000, meaning that its orbit around the sun (which takes 684 days) crosses with Earth's orbit. The asteroid is classified as potentially hazardous because of its size and relatively close orbit to Earth.

A blurry photo of the space rock hurtling in our direction was captured by the Virtual Telescope Project on March 24, when the asteroid was around 7.2 million miles (11.6 million km) from Earth. This is the first evidence that confirms the asteroid will make its flyby of Earth as predicted by past models. ...

The asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth at 4:35 p.m. ET, when it will be around 4.6million miles away. For reference, the average distance between Earth and the moon is around 238,855 miles (384,400 km), according to NASA, which will make the asteroid around 30 times farther away than the moon is from Earth when it arrives. ...
FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/large-asteroid-for-earth-flyby
 
Another substantial asteroid will zoom past earth on 28 April, at a predicted distance of circa 2 million miles.
'Potentially hazardous' asteroid twice the size of the Empire State Building will skim past Earth Thursday, NASA says

A gigantic "potentially hazardous" asteroid that may be twice the size of the Empire State Building is set to zoom past Earth Thursday (April 28), according to NASA.

The asteroid, named 418135 (2008 AG33), has an estimated diameter between 1,150 and 2,560 feet (350 to 780 meters) and will break into Earth's orbit at a blistering 23,300 mph (37,400 km/h). Thankfully, the asteroid is expected to skim past our planet without any risk of impact.

At its closest point, the asteroid — traveling at more than 30 times the speed of sound — will come within about 2 million miles (3.2 million kilometers) of Earth, which is roughly eight times the average distance between Earth and the moon. This may sound like a big gap, but by cosmic standards, it's actually a stone's throw away. ...
FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/asteroid-flyby-april-28
 
These asteroid articles always talk about how how close they will come but not anywhere near close enough to pose any sort of impact threat.
It's just sensationalist clickbaiting.
I wish they wouldn't bother.
Let us know when something WILL hit the earth. Then it'll be worth reporting. They'll be able to write the whole thing in capitals.
 
This asteroid will buzz earth within the next several hours, and it wasn't discovered until 4 July. The reason for the detection delay is the same as the reason for not worrying - it's small (for an asteroid).
Scientists just detected a bus-sized asteroid that will fly extremely close to Earth tonight

A small asteroid the size of a bus will make an extremely close approach to Earth on Thursday (July 7), passing within just 56,000 miles (90,000 kilometers) — or about 23% of the average distance between Earth and the moon. And just a few days ago, no one knew it was coming

The asteroid, named 2022 NF, is expected to pass safely by our planet, according to calculations by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Astronomers discovered the sneaky asteroid using data from the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) — a system of cameras and telescopes based in Hawaii with the primary goal of detecting near-Earth objects, or NEOs. On July 4, researchers identified the object and calculated its approximate size and trajectory, estimating that the space rock measured between 18 and 41 feet wide (5.5 meters and 12.5 meters) at its longest dimension. ...

Because of its diminutive size, 2022 NF does not fit NASA's criteria for a "potentially hazardous asteroid," which generally must measure at least 460 feet (140 meters) long and pass within 4.6 million miles (7.5 million km) of Earth, according to Live Science's sister site Space.com. While the newly detected asteroid will sail well within that distance, it is much too small to be considered an existential threat to Earth. ...
FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/sneaky-asteroid-2022-nf-flyby
 
An asteroid the size of a 50-story skyscraper will pass by earth this Sunday.
Skyscraper-size asteroid will blaze past Earth in a close approach this Sunday

An asteroid the size of a 50-story skyscraper will zoom past Earth Sunday (July 17), making its closest approach to our planet in nearly 100 years.

The meaty space rock, dubbed 2022 KY4, will safely miss Earth by about 3.8 million miles (6.1 million kilometers), or more than 16 times the average distance between Earth and the moon ... This is considerably farther afield than the asteroid 2022 NF, which came within 56,000 miles (90,000 km) — or about 23% the average distance between Earth and the moon — on July 7.

Asteroid 2022 KY4 is about 290 feet (88 meters) in diameter at its widest visible point and is traveling at an estimated 16,900 mph (27,000 km/h) — around eight times as fast as a speeding rifle bullet, according to NASA. ...
SOURCE: https://www.livescience.com/asteroid-2022-ky4-close-approach
 
I wonder how many times this happened over the last 100 years and we simply didn't notice?
I've had that close up, and totally unforgettable experience with a huge Asteroid - when I lived in Scotland many years ago, whilst walking along a path at night.
I wrote to the Astronomer Royal the very next day, (Sir 'Martin Reece') and he wrote back saying. . . "interesting."
 
Well look what happened at Tunguska in 1908.
The one that I was witness to seemed to be slowly surfing the outer atmosphere moving from my left to my right, (skimming it, like it was stuck to it, but still moving with the curvature of the earth) until it got to about the two O'clock position then it shot off into the darkness of deep space in the blink of an eye - quite literally!
Took me quite a while to take in what I had seen believe me.
 
The one that I was witness to seemed to be slowly surfing the outer atmosphere moving from my left to my right, (skimming it, like it was stuck to it, but still moving with the curvature of the earth) until it got to about the two O'clock position then it shot off into the darkness of deep space in the blink of an eye - quite literally!
Took me quite a while to take in what I had seen believe me.
Are you certain that what you saw was an asteroid?
 
Are you certain that what you saw was an asteroid?
Well, at a later date, when I was giving a report about a cigar shaped UFO event to two Scottish investigators/researchers, said that in their opinion - after I'd mentioned the Asteroid event to them, that it was a UFO that I had seen! ("word rearrangements made to text.")

A UFO that blots out a large percentage of the sky from where I was stood, was certainly not a UFO! It was simply too large by-far, pear-shaped and slightly tilting downwards, and glowing like a lump massive lump of coke with constant shifting colours and flames waving from the back-end of it's surfaces, (I could actually hear the flames from where I was standing) and intensely white hot lumps of it were being ejected from the pointy shaped nose-end, shooting downwards and sparking just like a massive firework.

The glow from the flames actually lit up some of the roof tops below as it crossed overhead, as I noticed when looking towards the town which is approximately half-a-mile away.

All this took place, in not much more than 5 to 10 seconds, which is the reason I guess, why no one else in that small town was known (not to my knowledge anyway) to have spoken out as having witnessed it. "In any case, they were to-say-the-least, a bit 'touchy' about reporting events such as this at that time, and might still tend to avoid such unbelievable accounts like Asteroids or UFO reports:ranting:!"
And I certainly would not have considered reporting it directly to the Astronomer Royal, unless I was certain of what I saw.
 
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Well, at a later date, when I was giving a report about a cigar shaped UFO event to two Scottish investigators/researchers, said in that in their opinion - after I'd mentioned the Asteroid event to them, that in their opinion it was a UFO that I had seen!

A UFO that blots out a large percentage of the sky from where I was stood, was certainly
not a UFO! It was simply too large by-far, pear-shaped and slightly tilting downwards, and glowing like a lump massive lump of coke with constant shifting colours and flames waving from the back-end of it's surfaces, (I could actually hear the flames from where I was standing) and intensely white hot lumps of it were being ejected from the pointy shaped nose-end, shooting downwards and sparking just like a massive firework.

The glow from the flames actually lit up some of the roof tops below as it crossed overhead, as I noticed when looking towards the town which is approximately half-a-mile away.

All this took place, in not much more than 5 to 10 seconds, which is the reason I guess, why no one else in that small town was known (not to my knowledge anyway) to have spoken out as having witnessed it. "In any case, they were to-say-the-least, a bit 'touchy' about reporting events such as this at that time, and might still tend to avoid such unbelievable accounts like Asteroids or UFO reports:ranting:!"
And I certainly would not have considered reporting it directly to the Astronomer Royal, unless I was certain of what I saw.
Wow, what a sighting!
And nothing was reported in the area or nearby towns?
Seems odd that an asteroid would not have been news?
 
Sadly this one will miss the Earth.

An asteroid that could measure more than 1,200 feet across—as tall as the Empire State Building—is set to fly safely past Earth later this week after being discovered just a few days ago.

The space rock, dubbed 2022 OE2, will make a close approach to our planet on Wednesday, figures from NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) database show.

At 8:23 p.m. ET on that day, the asteroid is predicted to come within around 3.2 million miles of Earth in its own orbit around the sun.

This is around 13 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon and, as such, there is no threat of a collision with our planet.

Asteroids are rocky objects that orbit the sun, much like planets, although they are significantly smaller.

https://www.newsweek.com/enormous-asteroid-1200-feet-wide-heading-towards-earth-72000-mph-1729713
 
Sadly this one will miss the Earth.

An asteroid that could measure more than 1,200 feet across—as tall as the Empire State Building—is set to fly safely past Earth later this week after being discovered just a few days ago.

The space rock, dubbed 2022 OE2, will make a close approach to our planet on Wednesday, figures from NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) database show.

At 8:23 p.m. ET on that day, the asteroid is predicted to come within around 3.2 million miles of Earth in its own orbit around the sun.

This is around 13 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon and, as such, there is no threat of a collision with our planet.

Asteroids are rocky objects that orbit the sun, much like planets, although they are significantly smaller.

https://www.newsweek.com/enormous-asteroid-1200-feet-wide-heading-towards-earth-72000-mph-1729713
I was rather hoping it would hit somewhere we don't like. Ah well.
 
There are asteroids that orbit the sun mostly inside earth's own orbit. Some of these cross earth's orbit. Because they're wholly or mainly off in the direction of the glaring sun, it's very difficult to even detect their existence. The first asteroid of "planet killer" size that might threaten earth from inside (rather than outside) earth's orbit has been discovered. Luckily, it's potential threat is believed to be thousands of years in the future.
'Planet killer' asteroid hiding in sun's glare could smash into Earth one day

A "planet killer" asteroid that is hiding in the glare of the sun has finally been detected, and the giant space rock could smash into Earth one day.

The 0.9-mile-wide (1.5 kilometers) "potentially hazardous" asteroid, named 2022 AP7, is one of several large space rocks that astronomers recently discovered near the orbits of Earth and Venus.

Currently, 2022 AP7 crosses Earth's orbit while our planet is on the opposite side of the sun, but scientists say that over thousands of years, the asteroid and Earth will slowly start to cross the same point closer together, thereby increasing the odds of a catastrophic impact. The asteroid, discovered alongside two other near-Earth asteroids using the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, was described in a study published Sept. 29 in The Astronomical Journal. ...

"So far we have found two large near-Earth asteroids [NEAs] that are about 1 km [0.6 mile] across, a size that we call planet killers," lead study author Scott Sheppard ... said in a statement. "Planet killer" asteroids are space rocks that are big enough to cause a global mass extinction event if they were to smash into Earth.

To find the asteroids, the astronomers trained the Cerro Tololo Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope’s Dark Energy Camera on the inner solar system. The sun's glare makes observations impossible for most of the day, so the researchers had just two 10-minute windows of twilight each night to make their observations.

"Only about 25 asteroids with orbits completely within Earth's orbit have been discovered to date because of the difficulty of observing near the glare of the Sun," Sheppard said. "There are likely only a few NEAs with similar sizes left to find, and these large undiscovered asteroids likely have orbits that keep them interior to the orbits of Earth and Venus most of the time." ...
FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/planet-killer-asteroid-found-by-sun
 
This interactive website allows you to simulate asteroid impacts on Earth. You can set the size, the speed, the impact angle, and type of impactor and see the range of destruction from anywhere on Earth. Play God, have fun!

https://neal.fun/asteroid-launcher/
Thank you so much! This is the greatest. I blew up my old workplace. The angle of impact makes a surprising difference.
 
Asteroid 2023 BU was only discovered on Saturday (January 21) but will enter our atmosphere and fly by Earth later this week in one of the nearest misses ever recorded

It is set to travel roughly 6,500 miles past the centre of the Earth, which is a tiny distance in astronomical terms

You will be able to watch the asteroid whizz past our planet on a livestream courtesy of robotic, remote-controlled telescopes. They are part of the Virtual Telescope Project (VTP) being operated by the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory in Ceccano, Italy.

The live feed is due to start on Thursday (January 26) at 7.15pm.

It makes the space rock the fourth-nearest of 35,000 past and future Earth approaches, according to data collected by NASA 's Centre for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) for the 300 years from 1900 to 2200.

According to the CNEOS data, the space rock only measures between 12.4ft and 27.8ft across, meaning it would be of little threat even if it was heading for Earth.

NASA states asteroids smaller than 82ft (25m) across will most likely burn up when they enter Earth's atmosphere, leading to little or no damage on the ground.

However, the asteroid will come into our atmosphere - specifically the exosphere, the outermost layer that extends some 6,000miles.
 
Asteroid 2023 BU was only discovered on Saturday (January 21) but will enter our atmosphere and fly by Earth later this week in one of the nearest misses ever recorded

It is set to travel roughly 6,500 miles past the centre of the Earth, which is a tiny distance in astronomical terms

You will be able to watch the asteroid whizz past our planet on a livestream courtesy of robotic, remote-controlled telescopes. They are part of the Virtual Telescope Project (VTP) being operated by the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory in Ceccano, Italy.

The live feed is due to start on Thursday (January 26) at 7.15pm.
Does that mean it's going to pass the Earth only *(update) 1,988,387.82 miles above us? If so, I'd call that a pretty close call! I wonder if it's passing will have some, if any, effect on the Earths atmosphere/weather patterns, or is it well beyond that?
 
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This interactive website allows you to simulate asteroid impacts on Earth. You can set the size, the speed, the impact angle, and type of impactor and see the range of destruction from anywhere on Earth. Play God, have fun!

https://neal.fun/asteroid-launcher/
I'm afraid I overdid it a bit in my bid to eliminate Woking. Looks like 160 million dead in total; UK, Belgium, Netherlands, most of France, Germany and Denmark wiped off the map. The 36-mile wide crater obliterated the entire area between Reading, London, and Haslemere. We're all gonners, sorry everyone.
 
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Does that mean it's going to pass the Earth only *(update) 1,988,387.82 miles above us? If so, I'd call that a pretty close call! I wonder if it's passing will have some, if any, effect on the Earths atmosphere/weather patterns, or is it well beyond that?
I’m not sure how you arrived at this figure - it’s going to be much closer than that. From space.com

When it passes by Earth at its closest on Thursday (Jan. 26) at 4:17 p.m. EST (2117 GMT), the space rock will be within less than 3% of the average Earth-moon distance at an altitude of just 2,178 miles (3,506 kilometers) above Earth's surface.

For comparison, most geostationary satellites orbit at an attitude of around 22,200 miles (35,800 km).
I don't think it will have any effect on weather.
 
I’m not sure how you arrived at this figure - it’s going to be much closer than that. From space.com


I don't think it will have any effect on weather.
Online - from a different source, (one of many it seems!)
 
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