London, Feb. 15: A giant asteroid the size of three football pitches will make the closest flyby of Earth in recorded history for an object of its size, scientists said on Monday. It will pass between the Earth and the Moon and will even come closer than the orbit of many telecommunications satellites, although astronomers insisted that there was little chance of a collision with the massive rock.

Anxious Earthlings need not worry too much for another 24 years, however, because asteroid 2004 MN4 is not due to make its closest approach to Earth until about 10 pm GMT on Friday 13 April 2029. The latest calculations of the rock’s orbit suggest that it will come so close that it will probably be visible to the naked eye from Britain. It will shine in the sky as a dim, fast-moving star — the first asteroid in modern times to be clearly visible from Earth without the aid of a telescope or binoculars.

The asteroid was first discovered in June 2004 and calculations of its orbit made by astronomers last Christmas Eve suggested that there was a one in 60 chance of it colliding with the Earth. However, within a week this was revised down to virtually zero probability of a collision. If it did collide it would cause an explosion equivalent to about 20 hydrogen bombs being detonated simultaneously, turning vast areas of land into desert.

Phew!

Thank god it isnt going to strike earth..that type of thing has to be one of my biggest fears
Anyway..thanks for the info.

Let's hope that the scientist didn't forget to "carry the two" when he was calculating the trajectory....

I wonder if the would tell us if it was going to hit?

wow thats awesome i will be 49 years old when that day comes, i cant wait

Good grief, was it really calculated to "near miss" on the Friday 13th? Something doesn't seem right, I'm scared.

No sweat dude!


And what would the scientist who forgot to "carry the two" say?
Awesome twosum?


Though the distance by which it's gonna miss earth is gonna be something like few thousands of Km, still in astronomical terms it is considered a near miss. A slight change in the angle and the trajectory of the asteroid would make all the difference between a hit and a miss. So let's hope our scientists got it right.
I think we should also be ready with powerful rockets to blast the asteroid in space to stop or alter it's course just in case they are any last minute surprises.
And this happening on Friday 13th sure does freak most people though. I wonder how people will react and what the situation will be like at that time?

Can we really tell its exact tranjectory, I mean what if its mass is changed due to frozen particles falling off or so....

The asteroid's trajectory is dependent on its heat radiation. The thermal emission from an asteroid acts like a rocket force in the opposite direction.

To predict an asteroid's orbit reliably radar measurements or at least optical observations spanning one or preferably two orbit periods of the asteroid are needed. In order to predict the orbit of an asteroid with an orbit period of say 2.29 years, we need to track its movement for about 2 to 4 years to say in a positive way where it WILL be for a few decades.

Each virtual asteroid will have a different trajectory that can be calculated as time passes by and confronted with later observations of the position of the asteroid...

I don't think asteroid's trajectory depends on its mass.