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Reader Comments
Maybe not a threat. But without knowing its makeup - rocky core, iron, iridium?? If part of its makeup was a very dense element and did not reflect much light it would also misrepresent its size also it seems.
Interesting either way though that we finally have mention of incoming objects in a somewhat more overt manner.
The mere fact that it is going to hit Sudan, makes me also question what it really is.
There is a 0.2% chance that it will not encounter Earth's atmosphere, but if it does, it is certain it will occur at precisely 02:46 UTC over northern Sudan??
"Steve Chesley (JPL) reports that atmospheric entry will occur on 2008 Oct 07 0246 UTC over northern Sudan." [Link]
"Will occur" means 100% certainty, not 99.8%.
Don Yeomans
NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office
October 7, 2008
Confirmation has been received that the asteroid impact fireball occurred at the predicted time and place. The energy recorded was estimated to be 0.9 to 1.0 kT of TNT and the time of detection was 02:45:45 on October 7 (Greenwich Standard Time). More details on this detection will be forthcoming. An additional confirmation was apparently reported by a KLM airliner (see: http://www.spaceweather.com/). As reported by Peter Brown (University of Western Ontario, Canada), a preliminary examination of infrasound stations nearest to the predicted impact point shows that at least one station recorded the event. These measurements are consistent with the predicted time and place of the atmospheric impact and indicate an estimated energy of 1.1 - 2.1 kT of TNT.
And they knew about it just in time to post a warning one day before the event???
Wonder how they know for certain that it poses no threat?