Asteroid No Longer Predicted to Hit Earth

[applegrove]

Asteroid No Longer Predicted to Hit Earth

March 1, 2022 at 3:00 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 20 Comments

https://politicalwire.com/2022/03/01/asteroid-no-longer-predicted-to-hit-earth/

"SNIP........

“Initial observations of an asteroid dubbed ‘2022 AE1’ showed a potential Earth impact on July 4, 2023—not enough time to attempt deflection and large enough to do real damage to a local area should it strike,” Phys.org reports.

“It has since been confirmed that 2022 AE1 will not impact Earth.”

Goddard: As John Ellis noted: Finally, some really good news.

......SNIP:

[Sneederbunk]

1. I will now change my plans for July 4, 2023.

I was going to sleep in.

[greenjar_01]

2. Dammit

No luck.

[roamer65]

11. +1000

[Hugin]

3. As any self-respecting asteroid would do at this point.

The mark of good taste among NEOs.

[lame54]

4. Putin fails again

[JasonMain]

5. Thanks Biden.

[qazplm135]

6. can we direct one

to wherever Putin is hiding his Napoleon ass?

[Disaffected]

7. Except it never was

predicted to hit earth.

[PoliticAverse]

8. So I can look up again? n/t

[csziggy]

9. More detailed article

Asteroid 2022 AE1 poses no danger to Earth
Posted by Eddie Irizarry and Editors of EarthSky
January 25, 2022

Asteroid 2022 AE1 caused a bit of a stir following its discovery on January 6, 2022. Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena California temporarily placed it in level 1 on the Torino scale. The scale is intended to convey the seriousness of a given asteroid’s potential for collision with Earth. It goes from 0 to 10. A 10 on the Torino scale indicates a collision is certain, and the impacting object is large enough to precipitate a global disaster. All other known asteroids on the Torino scale are currently level 0. They pose no risk of impacting Earth. Why was 2022 AE1 placed at 1 on the Tonino scale?

A little while after 2022 AE1’s discovery, scientists moved it back down to level 0, only to move it back to level 1 when they realized it would have a close encounter in early July 2023. Then, on January 20, 2022, the asteroid 2022 AE1 entered the list of Removed Objects. Time to breathe a sigh of relief. But why? Why didn’t astronomers know all along?

How big is it?

Asteroid 2022 AE1 is an Apollo-type asteroid. It has an estimated size of 230 feet (70 m) in diameter. It’s more than three times the size of the small asteroid that disintegrated over the skies of Chelyabinsk, Russia, on February 15, 2013. It’s about the same size as the space rock that caused the Tunguska event in 1908, also in Russia, which released enough energy to kill reindeer and flatten an estimated 80 million trees over an area of 830 square miles (2,150 square km). In 1908, witnesses reported seeing a fireball – a bluish light, nearly as bright as the sun – moving across the sky. A flash and a sound similar to artillery fire was said to follow it. A powerful shockwave broke windows hundreds of miles away and knocked people off their feet.

So asteroid 2022 AE1 is, apparently, plenty big enough to cause a “destructive event” on Earth. Why didn’t astronomers know for certain how dangerous it was? And why did it cause a stir?

More: https://earthsky.org/space/asteroid-2022-ae1-poses-no-danger-to-earth/

[NBachers]

10. A 70 meter asteroid

[bahboo]

12. would have been a helluva fireworks show....