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Better hold on to your hat (if you wear one)...
Toutatis [theage.com.au]
Syzygy
Scientists say it will pass by Earth on September 29 with a gap of just 1.5 million kilometres, four times the distance to the Moon
You'll need a pretty tall hat for it to be hit by that :)
That's close by cosmic standards for an object that could cause global devastation. Toutatis hasn't been so near since the year 1353 and won't be that close again until 2562, NASA scientists have calculated. No other asteroid so large is known to have come so close in the past...
Quote courtesy of Space.com [space.com]
Not only that but Toutatis has one of the most chaotic orbits in the solar system. There is no threat of it impacting planet earth, of course, but that doesn't make it less interesting...
You can also find out more at the Toutatis 'Home page' [astrosurf.com].
Syzygy
I wonder if Toutatis will cause some weather problems? Or is it really too far for that?
From 17 March 2004:
The object, designated 2004 FH, is roughly 30 meters (100 feet) in diameter and will pass just 43,000 km (26,500 miles, or about 3.4 Earth diameters) above the Earth's surface on March 18th at 5:08 PM EST (2:08 PM PST, 22:08 UTC).
Note that this "small" Near Earth Object is two-thirds the diameter of a famous one that came somewhat closer 50,000 years ago. Yes, I know that much of it would burn off in the atmosphere and what actually got to the ground - if it ever did impact - would be much smaller; perhaps only a "natural" Nagasaki: this is not very comforting.
The Barrington Crater (AKA Meteor Crater) in Arizona was likely made by a meteoroid approximately 150 feet in diameter, weighing about 300,000 tons, and traveling at 40,000 miles per hour. The impact force being equivalent to the explosion of 20 million tons of TNT [For reference: the Nagasaki nuclear bomb was equivalent to 21 thousand tons of TNT].
Not how I want to meet the dinosaurs.
Makes you feel like being on a planet playing Russian Roulette. I wonder how many rocks are in how many chambers?
An object on target to our tiny island in the galaxy is inevitable. At least over the last few years 'we' have started to take the threat seriously. One of the first organisations set up to bring this situation to the attention of those in power was the Spaceguard Foundation [cfa-www.harvard.edu],
An interesting overview of the threat can be found here [eurograduate.com].
Syzygy
You'll need a pretty tall hat for it to be hit by that
Well, you could always start folding it [google.com].
I don't mind going up there with Liv Taylor.
( and i even have a pic of self in obelix disguise ...atkins diet helps;)...so does looking like "hagrid"
worrying about the sky falling on your head is a major local hobby ....
gonna find me a couple of sangliers and a few flagons of wine and wait and see with falbala for company ..;)
few flagons of wine
how about asking panoramix for a few gallons of magic potions - just in case :)?
leo
(He recently tabled a motion in the UK house of commons stating that "humans are a virus and a pestilance upon this Earth; the sooner we are all wiped out by a passing asteroid the sooner the Earth can start to repair itself"). :)
Incidentally, Toutatis may have been discovered by the French, but, in reality, I think that it is American. I say this because it has not one, but two North Poles [spacetoday.org]. Only an American asteroid would behave in such an excessive manner. A Fench asteroid would have more savoir-faire ;)
It will be my first asteroid passing that I watch so :)
Syzygy
First of all, chances are we wouldn't even know it was coming since most asteroids don't reflect much light and are therefore undetectable.
Between the time it was actually visible to the naked eye and the time it struck the earth were around one millisecond or less, so basically you wouldn't even know what happened.
The air in front of the asteroid would be compressed so fast that everything in front of it would become super heated and vaporized.
Toutatis, Croeso i Gymru
Did I really post this¿
