Full Version: Asteroid
Hav eyou guys heard of that asteroid thats going pass very closed to earth on september 29.
September 29th Events Brought to you from your friendy UM Calendar Girl 
yes thats the same asteroid but wont a asteroid passing too close affect earths enviroment.
Maybe one of our resident space experts can answer that one...
oh and who is that?
Haha ...not me. There are a number of folks here on UM who might be able to give you an informed answer...you might have to wait until tomorrow though.
Dot
Dot
OK thank you.
QUOTE(saint seiya @ Sep 3 2004, 07:23 PM)
yes thats the same asteroid but wont a asteroid passing too close affect earths enviroment.
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ooh maybe there will be cool colors and stuffs
Nah, I dont think asteroids affect the environment much.
QUOTE(saint seiya @ Sep 4 2004, 07:23 AM)
yes thats the same asteroid but wont a asteroid passing too close affect earths enviroment.
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Look at it this way, the asteroids closest approach will bring it to within 4 lunar distances (approx. 1 million miles) to the earth. It is roughly 2 1/2 miles long and 1 1/2 miles wide in size. Compare that to the moon which orbits the earth at a distance of roughly 230 to 250 thousand miles and has a diameter of 2100 miles (somewhat more than 1/4 the earth's diameter). Suffice to say that the asteroids 'environmental affect' would be negligable.
Groovy! Hope that helps saint seiya
yes,it does help me and thank you for the information.
QUOTE
Look at it this way, the asteroids closest approach will bring it to within 4 lunar distances (approx. 1 million miles) to the earth. It is roughly 2 1/2 miles long and 1 1/2 miles wide in size. Compare that to the moon which orbits the earth at a distance of roughly 230 to 250 thousand miles and has a diameter of 2100 miles (somewhat more than 1/4 the earth's diameter). Suffice to say that the asteroids 'environmental affect' would be negligable.
That is unless some unforseen event alters it's course?
Like... AN ALIEN TRACTOR BEAM!?
The asteroid is 4179 Toutatis, there are some amazing radar images of it on this NASA site, it's a pretty weird looking object i'm sure you'll agree.
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/images/toutatis.html
Orbit simulation: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db?name=4179
At closest approach on September 29th it will be about 1.5 million km away.
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/images/toutatis.html
Orbit simulation: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db?name=4179
At closest approach on September 29th it will be about 1.5 million km away.
On the NASA site it says November 29, did they change the date?
QUOTE(Me_Again @ Sep 5 2004, 03:47 AM)
On the NASA site it says November 29, did they change the date?
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No, the radar images were obtained during a flyby in November 1996. Toutatis is still on course for an Earth flyby on September 29th 2004.
Another article on Toutatis:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/myst...day_040503.html
The close approach of 4179 Toutatis on September 29 will not affect the Earth's environment AT ALL !
At that distance not a chance.
The only way it could effect our enviroment is if it skimmed the atmosphere and left behind debris. Then depending on the amount of dust it left behind you would have a variety of enviromental effects ranging from a slight dimming of the sun and some really nice sunsets to a possible year long winter( it's happened before in 500 something AD) With it's size it's limited to how much damage it could actually do.
At that distance it would have to be planet size to have even the smallest of effects, like an exceptionally high tide or low tide.
The only way it could effect our enviroment is if it skimmed the atmosphere and left behind debris. Then depending on the amount of dust it left behind you would have a variety of enviromental effects ranging from a slight dimming of the sun and some really nice sunsets to a possible year long winter( it's happened before in 500 something AD) With it's size it's limited to how much damage it could actually do.
At that distance it would have to be planet size to have even the smallest of effects, like an exceptionally high tide or low tide.
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