Asteroid Will Be a Close Shave today...

[Dain Arns]

So NASA said the 150 foot wide Asteroid 2012 DA14 will be a "close shave" today for Earth...
http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2...nd-misses?lite

Streaming video of the fly by will be around 2pm EST here in the US:
http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2%C2%A0

However...

Looks like DA14 possibly had large fragments traveling with it that were a whole lot closer than someone realized, IMHO...
http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2...in-russia?lite

Flight across the sky...

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Massive, multiple sonic booms as a result...

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At least 400 injuries reported so far, (when I posted this) mostly from flying glass from the sonic booms.


Looks like we collectively as the Human race dodged a "bullet" today.
I know I'm a whole lot more grateful to be alive this morning...

[beana51]

Comets are both creator and destroyers of life..Asteroids are FIRE from the sky's. killers of life.There are "LOOKERS" out there for these killers,but their numbers are few.One just has to look at the full moon..nothing but impact creators...The earth also, most creators now most blended into the scenery. .The day will come when some future life ,like paleontologists of today will look at our bones and wonder?It seems on Earth its a never ending story.It has happened many times before! The Heavens are not a place you would want to go to..its Violent,explosions ,collisions,fire,cold,Black holes,..inhospitable to life as we know it.Like being in an exploding bomb...Fragments flying from the center. My advice to all is to EAT,DRINK,BE MERRY. As today shows,what if that thing was a 6mile rock?..It would be .the last thing you would see ,before yer Eyes melted, and rolled down yer flaming cheeks??

[Dain Arns]

2012 DA14 is passing by right now. NASA TV is showing it.

Looks like this asteroid and the meteor over Russia are not related and were two separate incidents today.
When news of the meteor was first announced, I had thought of something similar to comet Schumacher-Levy hitting Jupiter back in 1994.

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Still, two close calls in one day, with one not being seen at all...

[jimjones]

Not related? How do the experts really know? Some cosmic event could have expelled these fragments from the Oort cloud, or one of many other possibilities.

[mav]

spposed to have been another over Cuba...

http://investmentwatchblog.com/break...D6FxKkPtCY6.99

[Daveroo]

and this one over san fransico california last night..

http://news.yahoo.com/bright-streak-...155742051.html

[Dain Arns]

Not related? How do the experts really know? Some cosmic event could have expelled these fragments from the Oort cloud, or one of many other possibilities.

As Mav mentioned, with another one over Cuba I'm still having serious doubts that these were all separate incidents.
I just reported what the media's "experts" have said.

EDIT: Okay, one over SF too, and not related to 2012 DA14? Sure.


Now 6 months to go to Comet ISON, which may turn out to be the most visible comet in recent history.
Some say it may even be visible during the day.
(It won't be a close pass to us like the asteroid...)

http://earthsky.org/space/big-sun-di...acular-in-2013

[Naismith]

They can tell they are unrelated events because they are coming at us from differing trajectories. If they were related they would be almost all the same trajectory in their orbits of the Sun. Not all these objects orbit the Sun on a flat plane like the planets. In fact the Asteroid that missed us is almost perpendicular to the Earth's orbit. We are bombarded by these things all the time, what we are experiencing here is coincidence and the usual hysterical media frenzy. Step outside on any clear night and let your eyes adjust to the dark (takes a few minutes until the proteins in your eye are formed) after no more that 10 mins you are almost guaranteed to see a shooting star. The Earth gains hundreds of tons of weight every year by these things hitting us. Any doubts go on YT and search out Phil Plait the Bad Astronomer or Neil De Grasse Tyson they explain it all.

[Dain Arns]

I'm well aware of that Naismith, but thanks anyway.
Eric Idle explained it many years ago...

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Also, as the owner of both a 12" Dobsonian and a 4.5" reflector equatorial mount telescopes, neither of which I get to drag out to the backyard as much as I would like these days, I've seen quite a few things in a clear night sky.

My thoughts are that these aren't the typical large fireballs that can be seen this time of year, all the way through to April.
They are obviously much larger, causing shockwaves and destruction.
Not your typical "shooting stars".

The American Meteor Society has better information right now.
http://www.amsmeteors.org/
http://www.amsmeteors.org/2013/02/la...l-hits-russia/

Last link as least provided some trajectory info.

[Daveroo]

ihadnt really thought about it before,but when i used to "camp" in stockton calif at a place called river point landing and marina,its almost downtown at the end of march lane,right on the stockton deep water channel,but whats cool,is that its very dark at night,very quiet ,and if you go outside like midnight,,the boats are all off the river.you can sit there in the dark and watch the night sky,for some reason,while sitting alongside the water,it seems darker and makes things more visable...its amasing how much things move up there...