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Asteroid To Make Close Encounter Tonight


george

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Asteroid to make close encounter tonight

EARTH: -- Question: What has a diameter about the same as the Heroines Monument, weighs the same as 10,000 London buses, and flies at 23 times the speed of sound?

Answer: 2012DA14, an asteroid that is currently approaching earth on a near-collision course.

Experts from US space agency NASA say that the asteroid will come closest to earth early tomorrow morning, at 2:25 local time, and will pass over Sumatra, making it close enough to be seen easily from Phuket.

At its closest, the asteroid will be 27,700 kilometers from Earth which, say the boffins, is the smallest distance yet recorded in the history of close encounter observations.

Were it to collide with Earth, the impact of the asteroid would release energy equivalent to a 2.5-megaton nuclear bomb, or 150 times the size of the bomb used by the US to destroy 69 per cent of the Japanese city of Nagasaki in 1945.

Happily, according to the researchers, there is no risk of collision with the planet, though the huge chunk of rock will pass through a zone of space cluttered with weather and telecommunications satellites.

Live broadcast

NASA will broadcast the event live, beginning at 2am local time. The broadcast can be seen here.

http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

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-- 2013-02-15

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I noticed that the closest approach distance has be getting smaller and smaller. unsure.png

I have my exit path figured out :D

Has anyone got a tracker for this thing yet? I have my telescope out ready. going to catch some z's and try to get up by 1AM :D

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Fawk me, I'm in BangSaphan, something really weird going on. Step outside, see a procession of at least 7 bright yellow lights in the sky, travelling form south to north. OK, they are probably just regular KL- BKK flights, bunched up.

Just for nostalgia, watching 'Starship Troopers' tonight

[good call Kerryd

> It's an attack by the bugs ! Join the Mobile Infantry now ! Service Guarantees Citizenship ! <]

I'm only two bottles into a regular 3-bottle Siam Sato day. Haven't yet made a will in favour of new GF. Am I up shit creek? -certainly not yet pissed. AA

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Fawk me, I'm in BangSaphan, something really weird going on. Step outside, see a procession of at least 7 bright yellow lights in the sky, travelling form south to north. OK, they are probably just regular KL- BKK flights, bunched up.

That'll likely be khom loy

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I noticed that the closest approach distance has be getting smaller and smaller. unsure.png

I have my exit path figured out biggrin.png

Has anyone got a tracker for this thing yet? I have my telescope out ready. going to catch some z's and try to get up by 1AM biggrin.png

http://www.satflare....q=a2012da14#TOP

Check the google map at the bottom..

exactly what i was looking for!

Thanks!

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Cant see it with naked eye. need a binock or telescope. should be passing from south soutwest to north northwest. for the next 20 mins almost directly overhead, slightly to the west.

same here in Laos, can't see it with naked eye... did you (or anyone?) see it with a binock or telescope?

Time to Zzzzzz...

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Thai says meteor blast 'normal'

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- A Thai astronomer yesterday downplayed the significance of the meteor that exploded over Russia yesterday, hours before an asteroid is due to pass close by the Earth this morning.

Dr Saran Posayajinda, deputy director of the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand, said asteroid 2012 DA14 was not on a collision course with Earth.

2012 DA14 was expected to pass within 27,300 kilometres of the Earth at 2.25am this morning local time, but will not be visible to the naked eye.

Saran said his institute would observe the asteroid using a 2.4-metre-wide telescope at the observatory on Doi Inthanon mountain in Chiang Mai.

He said the meteor blast in the atmosphere over Russia was a normal phenomenon. Four similar incidents have been witnessed in Thailand: in the skies above Nakhon Pathom in 1923; in Chiang Khan in Loei province in 1981; in Ban Rongkhu, Phetchabun in 1993; and in Phitsanulok in 2009. In the 2009 incident a meteorite struck a house but no one was injured.

nationlogo.jpg

-- The Nation 2013-02-16

RELATED:

Meteorite hits Russia: official

http://www.thaivisa....ussia-official/

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