On Monday, a small
asteroid is expected to just skirt by earth. An asteroid only comes this close about once every 6 years.
NASA scientists said the meteorite can be briefly seen from earth with a modest-sized telescope.
It will approach its closest point to the earth at 9:30 a.m. ET and over the Atlantic Ocean. NASA scientists don't expect it to hit the earth. Even if does, it'll likely burn up in the earth's atmosphere because it's only estimated to be at most 65 feet wide.
Also, because it's over the Atlantic Ocean, any fragments that do survive the atmosphere probably won't do much harm.
But just how close will this meteorite get?
NASA scientists estimate 7,500 miles, or 12,000 kilometers. This compares to:
distance from New York, US to Mumbai, India - 7,800 miles
earth's diameter - 7,900 miles (in other words, the meteorite will be one earth's width away from the earth)
earth's circumference around equator - 24,900 miles
earth's average distance to moon - 238,900 miles
Below are charts from NASA detailing the orbit of the asteroid in relation to the earth
Comment: We won't comment on NASA's blind and hardheaded wishful thinking here. It should be clear by now to everyone with two neurons firing that we can't rely on "scientific authorities" to provide us with straight and truthful answers, not to mention solutions. But we do want to comment on a tendency of scientific bodies and newspapers who quote them to miss the big picture and show abysmal ignorance when it comes to threats from space. It's one thing to ridicule the issue by zeroing in on loonies who declare that the end is nigh, but not doing proper research and seeing that the ongoing and increasing threat does exist, and in fact can have quite dire consequences for our civilization, is another.