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Space & Astronomy

Double near-miss as two asteroids pass Earth

By T.K. Randall
March 7, 2014 · Comment icon 17 comments

Small asteroids pass us by all the time. Image Credit: NASA
Over the last couple of days two large recently discovered asteroids have passed close to our planet.
On Wednesday a 100ft space rock called 2014 DX110 passed us by within the orbit of the moon at a distance of just 217,000 miles. Astronomers had been able to see it coming but with little in the way of warning as it was only discovered on February 28th.
Just one day later and a second but smaller asteroid, 2014 EC, also passed us by within a distance of 38,000 miles. At 33ft across this follow-up object was only discovered last Tuesday, offering even less of a warning than Wednesday's.

While neither asteroid in this case would have proven apocalyptic due to their relatively small size, these two near-misses in two days nonetheless emphasize how vulnerable we are to impacts from space and how much work there is still to do in developing effective countermeasures.

Source: NBC News | Comments (17)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #8 Posted by Arkitecht 10 years ago
Here is the link: http://www.reformation.org/tesla-and-tunguska.html
Comment icon #9 Posted by scorpiosonic 10 years ago
About 20 meters in diameter according to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia....lyabinsk_meteor The biggest since the Tunguska event in 1908. Right on, thanks for link. Maybe some are too small to detect w/ current tech. It's a question of when it will happen again, not if....but I hope not. From WIKI.. The visible phenomenon due to the passage of an asteroid or meteoroid through the atmosphere is called a meteor, If the object reaches the ground, then it is called a meteorite During the Chelyabinsk meteoroid's traversal, there was a bright object trailing smoke, then an air burst (explosion) that c... [More]
Comment icon #10 Posted by qxcontinuum 10 years ago
God is still protecting us. Has always done it...that is until one day when one will hit; Was already described in the books of Revelations. http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16182
Comment icon #11 Posted by coolguy 10 years ago
I hate saying this but its going to happen.we are going to get hit
Comment icon #12 Posted by Peter B 10 years ago
It's only a matter of time.I doubt they will tell us except amatuer astronomers, if they catch it? If amateurs detect an incoming rock of dangerous proportions I find it hard to believe that NASA or other national space agencies would say nothing.
Comment icon #13 Posted by Peter B 10 years ago
I hate saying this but its going to happen.we are going to get hit The Earth was likely hit by a few rocks today, and will be hit by more tomorrow and the day after. As for dangerous ones, why not support the work of the B612 Foundation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B612_Foundation Let's go and find the dangerous rocks and work out what we can do about them.
Comment icon #14 Posted by Gold Star 10 years ago
The next asteroid collision with earth will be in late 2016 or early 2017 in the Central Pacific, according to crop circles. Download the entire free ebook at http://www.kennethmheck.com/aboutthebook.html
Comment icon #15 Posted by highdesert50 10 years ago
Earth has survived five mass extinction events, a number of ice ages and will likely survive a an asteroid collision. Humanity will survive if it colonizes other worlds.
Comment icon #16 Posted by Hawkin 10 years ago
Lets hope that asteroid named after Philip Klass doesn't get knocked out of it's orbit and head for earth. The whole planet will get Debunked.
Comment icon #17 Posted by Calibeliever 10 years ago
It really is a matter of 'when'. Even if we have some sort of defense plan in place how effective can it be with only a few days notice? We don't need a mile wide asteroid to cause serious havock. A couple hundred meters would make a heck of a mess. Google's break-room coffee budget was probably larger last year than the amount of resources we dedicate to finding these.


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