ASTEROID 99942 APOPHIS IN 2029 MAY HIT US
- OR WILL IT MISS US?IT WAS
SUPPOSED TO HIT US IN 2036 - IT'S BEEN MOVED UP BY 7 YEARS!
RUSSIA DOESN'T AGREE!
First labelled 2004 MN4, the 400m-wide asteroid
was in 2005 given the more interesting name of 99942 Apophis after an
Egyptian snake-god (or an alien character from Stargate SG-1, depending
on who you believe). It continues to be observed for an expected close
passing in 2029 instead of 2036.
Asteroids on a collision course with Earth -
should we worry
ALLEN MARQUETTE
May 15, 2008 at
4:26PM AKST
Everyone’s seen science fiction B movies
where aliens are trying to invade the Earth and destroy life as we know
it.
So far that we know, no aliens have visited the Earth yet, but there is
concern by scientists of the possibility of a visitor from space in the
form of an asteroid affecting life on Earth.
While many astronomers are kept busy with deep space research by
studying nebulas, galaxies and other interesting anomalies in the
greater voids of space, other scientists are looking for asteroids and
other large chunks of material left over from the formation of our solar
system and beyond.
Government agencies and private individuals are diligently searching the
nighttime skies with little funding to try to locate these rogue space
missiles before they arrive on our doorstep unannounced.
In the past millions of years, Earth has had many near misses, but most
everyone has heard of the one that didn’t miss Earth 65 million years
ago. It ended the reign of the dinosaurs and set the stage for mammals
to step up to the plate.
In the past 600 million years, there have been five major mass
extinctions that on average extinguished half of all species on Earth.
The largest mass extinction to have affected life was in the
Permian-Triassic, which ended the Permian period 250 million years ago
and killed off 90 percent of all species living on Earth.
These large devastating impacts don’t happen very often on Earth, but it
would be nice to know if any asteroids are headed our way in the near
future.
When a large enough chunk of space rock is detected as a potential
threat to Earth because of its size, careful mathematical measurements
and calculations are worked out for its trajectory and the possibility
of it’s impacting the Earth sometime in the future.
So, you may ask, are there any asteroids out there with a flight plan to
visit Earth sometime in the near future? Actually, there is one rock
that has caused some concern among scientists called 99942 Apophis.
This asteroid is about three football fields in size and weighs in
excess of several hundred thousand tons. The fact that it’s traveling at
nearly 100,000 miles per hour, combined with its size, makes it pretty
clear that the Earth’s atmosphere would have virtually no effect on
slowing this rogue missile down before impacting the Earth.
Believe it or not, on Friday the 13th, in 2029, 99942 Apophis is
scheduled to come within one-tenth of the distance the Earth is from the
Moon. Some might say the date alone seems like somewhat of a bad omen.
When it does arrive, the asteroid will be close enough to be easily
visible to the naked eye as it hurtles past the Earth on is course
through our solar system. Even though this distance seems close,
scientists estimate there is only a one in 45,000 chance of it hitting
Earth.
That’s not the problem though. Apparently, asteroid 99942 Apophis is
approaching so close to the Earth in 2029 that our gravitational pull
will change its trajectory slightly as it rockets past Earth at 20 to 40
miles per second.
Once the asteroid’s trajectory changes, we have a whole new situation to
deal with. Scientists can’t predict how much the Earth’s gravitational
pull will affect the asteroid’s trajectory, but they do know its course
will be altered.
Once scientists figure out its trajectory, they will have about seven
years to figure out if Earth will be a target during its next pass-by in
2036.
So, if an asteroid the size of 99942 Apophois did hit the Earth, would
it have the same devastating effect the last asteroid had when it
impacted Earth 65 million years ago?
Probably not, since the asteroid that smashed into the Yucatan Peninsula
close to the current Mexican town of Chicxulub was around six miles in
diameter, scientists estimate.
In comparison, asteroid 99942 Apophis is a mere 900 feet across but
still weighs in excess of hundreds of thousands of tons; the crater that
this mountain of rock would carve out if it collided with Earth would
destroy an area the size of Texas.
Since the Earth’s surface is more water than land, there’s a good chance
the asteroid would impact in the ocean. If this type of impact occurred,
tsunamis would wreak havoc on thousands of miles of coastline. Either
way, the consequences would be severe.
Allen Marquette is the education coordinator for the Prince William
Sound Science Center.
Asteroid 2007 TU24 has NASA
concerned.
Asteroid To Make Rare Close Flyby Of Earth
January 29. 2008
ScienceDaily (Jan.
24, 2008) — Scientists are
monitoring the orbit of asteroid 2007
TU24. The asteroid, believed to be
between 150 meters (500 feet) and 610
meters (2,000 feet) in size, is expected
to fly past Earth on Jan. 29, with its
closest distance being about 537,500
kilometers (334,000 miles) at 12:33 a.m.
Pacific time (3:33 a.m. Eastern time).
It should be observable that night by
amateur astronomers with modest-sized
telescopes.
Asteroid 2007 TU24 was
discovered by the NASA-sponsored
Catalina Sky Survey on Oct. 11,
2007. Scientists at NASA's
Near-Earth Object Program Office
at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Pasadena, Calif., have
determined that there is no
possibility of an impact with
Earth in the foreseeable future.
"This will be the closest
approach by a known asteroid of
this size or larger until 2027,"
said Don Yeomans, manager of the
Near Earth Object Program Office
at JPL. "As its closest approach
is about one-and-a-half times
the distance of Earth to the
moon, there is no reason for
concern. On the contrary, Mother
Nature is providing us an
excellent opportunity to perform
scientific observations."
Asteroid 2007 TU24 will reach an
approximate apparent magnitude
10.3 on Jan. 29-30 before
quickly becoming fainter as it
moves farther from Earth. On
that night, the asteroid will be
observable in dark and clear
skies through amateur telescopes
with apertures of at least 7.6
centimeters (3 inches). An
object with a magnitude of 10.3
is about 50 times fainter than
an object just visible to the
naked eye in a clear, dark sky.
NASA detects and tracks
asteroids and comets passing
close to Earth. The Near Earth
Object Observation Program,
commonly called "Spaceguard,"
discovers, characterizes and
computes trajectories for these
objects to determine if any
could be potentially hazardous
to our planet.
Adapted from materials provided
by
NASA/Jet
Propulsion Laboratory.
Asteroid 2007 TU24 has NASA
concerned. NASA has there full focus and attention
on this asteroid. All software applications
support staff have been directed to devote their
time specifically to running solutions on this
Near Earth Object. They are running solutions
with different inputs and the results are so
close to direct impact that NASA has decided not
to update the online simulator with these
results. When you look at the current solution
online the last orbit determination parameter is
from January 1, 2008. This data is 11 days old.
ssd.jpl.nasa.gov...
http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2007%20TU24;orb=1
Orbit Diagram
11
day old data for an object that has been getting
closer and closer to us in each successive run
is not normal protocol. Normal procedure would
have the solutions posted online every two to
three days at the beginning of the 30 day window
which was December 29, 2007. As the window of
time shrinks the data is refreshed with more
frequency. The lack of refreshing the data
online is suspicious and should raise some
eyebrows amongst those who have intimate
knowledge of how the astral community operates.
NASA is
about 50/50 as to whether this asteroid will
impact Earth. The dynamic variable that is in
play is whether or not Earths gravity will pull
the asteroid in. The trajectory angle that the
asteroid is approaching from is the southern
hemisphere. The solutions currently show
numerous scenarios impacting Earth. The
solutions that favor a Southern hemisphere
impact are the most serious. These solutions are
a direct straight on impact. The Northern
hemisphere solutions vary widely from because
there is the likelihood that the asteroid will
fragment as it traverses Earths atmosphere.
There is no possible way of knowing with 100%
certainty how much this object will fragment if
the Northern hemisphere solution pans out. The
solutions that have this NEO missing Earth have
it passing perilously close to satellites in
orbit and the International Space Station.
This is a very fluid situation that
literally changes by the minute. NASA is keeping
a tight lip on the situation as they do not know
with certainty what will transpire. The game
plan in these situations is to avoid civil
unrest and end of day’s paranoia. This is to
ensure that the privileged class can make it
easily to their safe havens, which are
underground bunkers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2hKPY1jJwM
You Tube shows animation of asteroid vs earth
Video #2 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_Y6L9-VmK8
If
youtube.com is not available, try this one:
http://www.stage6.com/user/DeusWatcher/video/2116272/Asteroid-2007-TU24-(1)
Near-Earth Asteroid 2007 TU24 to Pass
Close to Earth on Jan. 29 - Should be
Observable with Modest Sized Telescopes
Don Yeomans
NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office
January 22, 2008
Asteroid 2007 TU24, discovered by
the Catalina Sky Survey on October 11,
2007 will closely approach the Earth to
within 1.4 lunar distances (334,000 miles)
on 2008 Jan. 29 08:33 UT. This object,
between 150 and 600 meters in diameter,
will reach an approximate apparent
magnitude 10.3 on Jan. 29-30 before
quickly becoming fainter as it moves
further from Earth. For a brief time the
asteroid will be observable in dark and
clear skies with amateur telescopes of 3
inch apertures or larger.
For an interactive illustration of
this object's orbit see:
http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2007+TU24&orb=1
The illustration below is courtesy
of amateur astronomer Dr. Dale Ireland
from Silverdale, WA. The illustration
shows the asteroid's track on the sky for
3 days near the time of the close Earth
approach as seen from the city of
Philadelphia. Since the object's parallax
will be a significant fraction of a
degree, observers are encouraged to use
our on-line Horizons ephemeris generation
service for their specific locations.
These personalized ephemeris tables can be
generated at:
http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi?find_body=1&body_group=sb&sstr=2007%20TU24
| Given the estimated number of
near-Earth asteroids of this size
(about 7,000 discovered and
undiscovered objects), an object of
this size would be expected to pass
this close to Earth, on average, about
every 5 years or so. The average
interval between actual Earth impacts
for an object of this size would be
about 37,000 years. For the January
29th encounter, near Earth asteroid
2007 TU24 has no chance of hitting, or
affecting, Earth.
2007 TU24 will be the closest
currently known approach by a
potentially hazardous asteroid of this
size or larger until 2027. Plans have
been made for the Goldstone planetary
radar to observe this object Jan 23-24
and for the Arecibo radar to observe
it Jan 27-28 and then Feb 1-4. High
resolution radar imaging is expected,
which may permit later 3-D shape
reconstruction. |
From:
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news157.html
1-27-08
The Associated Press
Space scientists and
government officials are
tracking two massive objects
that are hurtling toward
Earth, but only one, a dead
satellite the size of a bus,
is expected to hit somewhere
on the globe.
Government officials said
Saturday that a large U.S. spy
satellite has lost power and
could hit Earth in late February
or early March. And an asteroid
at least 500 feet long will make
a rare close pass by Earth early
Tuesday, but scientists say
there is no chance of an impact.
The
satellite, which no longer can
be controlled, could contain
hazardous materials, and it is
unknown where it might come
down, said the government
officials, who spoke on
condition of anonymity because
the information is classified as
secret.
"Appropriate government agencies
are monitoring the situation,"
says Gordon Johndroe, a
spokesman for the National
Security Council.
John
Pike, director of the defense
research group
GlobalSecurity.org, estimates
that the spacecraft weighs about
20,000 pounds and is the size of
a small bus. Satellites have
natural decay periods, and it's
possible this one died as long
as a year ago and is just now
getting ready to re-enter the
atmosphere.
Jeffrey
Richelson, a senior fellow at
the National Security Archive,
says the spacecraft probably is
a photo-reconnaissance
satellite. Those are used to
gather information from space
about adversarial governments
and terror groups and to survey
damage from hurricanes, fires
and other disasters.
The
closest approach of the
asteroid, known as 2007 TU24, is
expected to be at 334,000 miles,
or about 1½ times the distance
of Earth to the moon.
The
nighttime encounter should be
bright enough for medium-size
telescopes to get a glimpse,
says Don Yeomans, manager of the
Near-Earth Object Program Office
at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, which tracks
potentially dangerous space
rocks. The closest approach is
expected to be at 3:33 a.m. ET.
The
asteroid TU24 is one of an
estimated 7,000 so-called
near-Earth objects.
An actual
collision of a similar-size
object with Earth occurs on
average every 37,000 years.
Spotted
in October by the NASA-funded
Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona,
TU24 is estimated to be 500 to
2,000 feet long.
The next
time an asteroid this size will
fly this close to Earth will be
in 2027.
Contributing: Reuters
Asteroid
zips past Earth, but satellite is
expected to hit
The Associated Press
Contributing: Reuters
It's all right folks,
that was just a massive asteroid
Article from: News.com.au
- Mass extinction
event averted
- Asteroid continuing
as before
-
Other space stuff: The
latest on UFOs
A MASSIVE asteroid that
was first spotted only four
months ago has just zoomed
past Earth.
The space rock, uninspiringly
named TU-24 and roughly 250m
in diameter, passed by at only
around 1.4 times the moon's
distance from Earth.
Boffins who scan the sky for
asteroids on potentially
deadly trajectories first saw
the rock on October 11 last
year.
Yesterday astronomers
got a good look at the
asteroid, which was so big
that it would have caused
devastating regional damage
had it struck Earth's surface.
DC Agle, a spokesman for
NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in California,
said: "I can confirm it came
the closest to Earth ... and
it's on its way, away from
Earth".
TU-24 flew by at 4.30pm AEDT
yesterday.
Earth was never in danger of
being struck by the asteroid
as it passed within 538,000km
of our planet, or 1.4 times
the Moon's distance from
Earth.
The asteroid's fly-by "is the
closest until at least the end
of the next century", JPL
senior astronomer Steve Ostro
said.
"It is also the asteroid's
closest Earth approach for
more than 2000 years."
For a brief period, the
asteroid was visible in dark
and clear skies with amateur
telescopes of 7.5cm or larger.
NOTE: David Sereda says a source of
his alludes to a contact at Lockheed, we
may have sent a craft to divert the orbit
of TU-24
Around 6:00 p.m.
fireballs were seen coming down in
California and some people saw a white
light fly around the fireball pieces -
so maybe it really did hit earth after it
was broken up.
Orange And LA
County, California
Falling Object Comes
To A Complete Stop -
Hover
|
|
Posted: January 27, 2008
Date: January 26, 2008 Time:
6:00 p.m.
Location of Sighting: Orange
and LA County. Number of
witnesses: 2 Number of
objects: 2+ Shape of objects:
Glowing orbs.
Full Description of
event/sighting: My husband and
I were driving approximately
west bound at about 6:00pm
PST. In the sky was a bright,
glowing light falling toward
earth with a bright tail of
light. First thought that it
was a falling star, but both
of us realized it was huge and
too close to the earth for
that and said to each other,
its going to crash into the
earth. Then it stopped falling
and appeared to hover, the
tail of light extinguished and
the main ball of light
remained very bright. It faded
in and out and then traveled
horizontally very quickly.
Another glowing light seemed
to be circling around it in a
wide pattern.
Both very bright lights,
brighter than airplane
headlights. Farther away from
these two was another light,
blue, and very small. It
seemed to be circling these in
a very wide pattern and we
thought it to be airplane
watching the phenomenon. We
didn't pull over and kept
driving toward them, but, they
got lower to the horizon and
we lost sight of them behind
trees as the road we were on
dipped. When we got back to an
unobstructed spot, the lights
were gone. The event lasted
about 5-10 minutes. Despite
the highly visible, quite
spectacular and unusual
display in the night sky, not
one report of it could be
found on news stations or in
the OC Register. In discussing
it's location, we estimate
that it was approximately 50
miles away which would make it
over LA County even though we
were seeing it from Orange
County.
Thank you to the witness for
this fascinating sighting
report.
Brian Vike, Director HBCC UFO
Research and host of the Vike
Report UFO Eyewitness radio
show. email: hbccufo@telus.net
Website: http://www.hbccufo.org
http://www.brianvike.com,
http://www.hbccufo.com,
http://www.hbccufo.net HBCC
UFO Research International:
http://www.hbccufointernational.org/
Radio show host for the Vike
Report, eyewitness relating
their experiences. http://jancikradionetwork.com/innerstreamsradio/show/vike_report/index.html
Just added, the Vike Report
Radio Show Blog. You can check
the blog out for archived
radio shows and all the new
and upcoming programs I do.
http://thevikereport.blogspot.com/
HBCC UFO Research, Box 1091
Houston, British Columbia,
Canada - VOJ 1ZO
|
|
|
|
|