Fire in the SkyS


Binoculars

Getting Closer: Images, Video of Asteroid 2011 MD

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© Peter LakeAsteroid 2011 MD
Accomplished amateur astronomer and blogger Peter Lake, a.k.a "AstroSwanny" from Australia captured some of the first images of what will be a very close pass of Earth by asteroid 2011 MD. He actually took the image at 07:00 UTC on June 26th with a 20 inch telescope in New Mexico controlled via his iPhone, through the Global Rent-A-Scope program. Ahh, the wonders of technology! As Peter says, "Its not every day, that an asteroid misses by less than 3-5 earth Radii."

Sun

Getting Ready for the Next Big Solar Storm

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© UnknownIllustration only
In Sept. 1859, on the eve of a below-average solar cycle, the sun unleashed one of the most powerful storms in centuries. The underlying flare was so unusual, researchers still aren't sure how to categorize it. The blast peppered Earth with the most energetic protons in half-a-millennium, induced electrical currents that set telegraph offices on fire, and sparked Northern Lights over Cuba and Hawaii.

This week, officials have gathered at the National Press Club in Washington DC to ask themselves a simple question: What if it happens again?

"A similar storm today might knock us for a loop," says Lika Guhathakurta, a solar physicist at NASA headquarters. "Modern society depends on high-tech systems such as smart power grids, GPS, and satellite communications--all of which are vulnerable to solar storms."

Telescope

2011 MD asteroid: When and from where will the giant space rock be visible on Monday?

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An asteroid measuring about 16 feet to 35 feet or the size of a house, will fly by Earth at a handshaking distance on Monday and a lucky few people will be able to see the celestial wonder with their naked eye.

The asteroid, called 2011 MD, will graze past Earth's atmosphere on Monday at a distance of 7,500 miles from the Earth's surface.

According to the ranking charts of International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center in Massachusetts, 2011 MD will be the fifth-closest asteroid to graze past Earth. In the past, three asteroids have zoomed past Earth at a closer distance, including a tiny asteroid (2011 CQ1) which flew by on February 4 this year after coming as close as 3,400 miles away from Earth's surface. The fourth, an asteroid named 2008 TC3 had entered Earth's atmosphere on October 7, 2008, but disintegrated into tiny pieces at a height of around 23 miles off the ground.

2011 MD will be visible to the naked eye as a bright blue light as it hurtles by in a starry background.

Bizarro Earth

How Close to the Earth Will the Asteroid Be on Monday?

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

Meteor

And Yet Another One: Newfound Comet Will Swing By Earth in 2013

comet C/2011 L4
© Institute for Astronomy/University of Hawaii/Pan-STARRSDiscovery image of the newfound comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS), taken by Hawaii's Pan-STARRS 1 telescope.
A newfound comet discovered by a telescope designed to hunt for dangerous asteroids will make its closest pass by Earth in 2013 and should be visible to the naked eye when it draws near, astronomers say.

Hawaii's Pan-STARRS 1 telescope detected the comet, which is called C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS), on the night of June 5 and 6, and the discovery was confirmed by follow-up observations with a different instrument a day later. The comet will likely come within about 30 million miles (50 million kilometers) of the sun in February or March 2013 - about the same distance as the planet Mercury, researchers said.

During its closest approach to Earth in two years, comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) likely to be visible low in the western sky shortly after sunset, weather permitting. Skywatchers interested in seeing the newfound icy wanderer should look up then, because they may never get another chance to see it.

"The comet has an orbit that is close to parabolic, meaning that this may be the first time it will ever come close to the sun, and that it may never return," said the University of Hawaii's Richard Wainscoat in a statement. Wainscoat helped confirm the comet's existence.

Right now, C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) is about 700 million miles (1.2 billion km) from the sun, placing it beyond the orbit of Jupiter. It is currently so faint that only telescopes with sensitive electronic detectors can pick it up.

The comet's clunky moniker is slightly unusual. Comets are usually named after their discoverers, but in this case such a large team of researchers helped spot the icy wanderer that it took the name of the telescope instead.

Meteor

Quirky Comet Hartley 2 Confounds Theories on Early Solar System

comet hartley 2
© NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMDThis close-up view of comet Hartley 2 was taken by NASA's EPOXI mission during its flyby of the comet on Nov. 4, 2010. It was captured by the spacecraft's Medium-Resolution Instrument.
The small Comet Hartley 2 is an oddball, for sure.

Two craggy bulges connected by a smooth waist (somewhat like a peanut), Comet Hartley 2 spews out more material than a comet just under a mile wide is expected to, a new study finds. And while most comets rotate slowly in one direction, Hartley spins rapidly as it tumbles.

Furthermore, Hartley 2 contains an inexplicable amount of carbon dioxide, causing it to burp and even hock ice loogies into space.

The unusual comet is raising questions over some longtime assumptions by scientists on how comets formed in the early solar system, said the scientists involved in the new study. [Photos: Close-Up Views of Comet Hartley 2]

The new Hartley 2 discoveries are based on the latest analysis of observations collected during a November 2010 flyby of the comet by NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft as part of its Extrasolar Planet Observation and Deep Impact Extended Investigation (EPOXI) mission. During the flyby, the Deep Impact probe approached within 431 miles (694 km) of the comet, snapping photos all the way.

Meteor

Meteor streaks over Central Texas, June 20th 2011

My meteor camera at my BuckSnort Observatory in Central Texas caught this bright fireball last night!


Meteor

"Just Found": Another Asteroid To Give Earth a Close Shave June 27, 2011

2011 MD
© JPL Small-Body Database Browser2011 MD's orbital parameters.
A newly discovered house-sized asteroid will miss the Earth by less than 17,700 km (11,000 miles) on Monday June 27, 2011. That's about 23 times closer than the Moon. The size and location of the asteroid, named 2011 MD, should allow observers in certain locations to take a look at the space rock, even with small telescopes. It's closest approach will be at 13:26 UTC on June 27.

According to Skymania, 2011 MD was found just yesterday, June 22, by LINEAR, a pair of robotic telescopes in New Mexico that scan the skies for Near Earth Asteroids.

As of now, asteroid 2011 MD is estimated to be between 9 to 45 meters (10 to 50 yards) wide. Dr. Emily Baldwin, of Astronomy Now magazine, said there is no danger of the asteroid hitting Earth, and even if it did enter the atmosphere, an asteroid this size would "mostly burn up in a brilliant fireball, possibly scattering a few meteorites."

Meteor

Best of the Web: Missing the big picture: U.S., Russia fight over asteroid "that could destroy Earth"

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© Unknown
Barely two weeks after the failure of a doomsday prediction by a United States (U.S.) based preacher, Russia and U.S. scientists are at war over another perceived threat to human existence.

The danger this time is not an apocalyptic occurrence, but the smacking of the Earth by a giant asteroid in five months time.

The potentially perilous space rock is known as Asteroid 2005 YU55, a round mini-world that is about 1,300 feet (400 metres) in diametre.

According to U.S. scientists, this asteroid will approach the Earth within a scant 0.85 lunar distances in early November.

Due to its size, and the way it will whisk by so close to the Earth, an extensive campaign of radar, visual and infrared observations are being planned.

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.


Meteor

UK: Meteorite tears through roof of lorry, driver survives

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© dissexpress.co.uk
A removal man from Long Stratton believes that a meteorite tore a gaping three to four inch hole in the roof of his 18-ton lorry.

James Barber, 34, had parked his lorry at the Harleston base of international removal firm Hamiltons in Speedwell Way, and believes he heard the incident which caused the rupture happen as he made his way back to the vehicle last Saturday afternoon.

The hole, big enough to comfortably slip a mobile phone through, was done to one of the sturdy, metal-thick corner joints on the green non-articulated Mercedes Benz Axor lorry.

Mr Barber said: "After walking back out in the yard to the lorry, I heard an almighty bang.

"At first I thought a tyre on my vehicle must have exploded, but after giving the outside a once over, it looked like nothing had happened.