Eight years after an asteroid exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, scientists are taking advantage of a flyby of the infamous asteroid Apophis to practice protecting Earth from space rocks. Source: https://www.livescience.com/apophis-2021-flyby-for-planetary-defense-practice.html
Tag: Chelyabinsk
Duck! Meteor! Oh, Maybe Don’t Bother – This Time…
RockDoctor (Slashdot reader #15,477) is a professional geologist, and asks: Did anyone feel a sudden wind through their hair at about 17:19+00:00 on Monday, particularly in the mid Pacific? No? Good. Nobody else did. Nobody noticed the asteroid whizzing past just above the Earth’s atmosphere (for certain values of “above” including “not very far” and “373km above ground”). That’s the closest…
Asteroid 2011 ES4 will pass much closer than the moon on September 1
The orbit of asteroid 2011 ES4 is still not entirely known. Our knowledge of it might improve sometime today – or early tomorrow – if it is “recovered” by astronomers. It’s expected to pass within the moon’s orbit, possibly as close as 0.19 lunar distances. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/asteroid-2011-es4-closer-than-moon-september-1-2020…
Truck-sized asteroid swept within 2,000 miles on Sunday
Asteroid ZTF0DxQ – now officially labeled 2020 QG – now holds the record for the closest flyby of Earth. It swept just 2,000 miles (3,000 km) from Earth’s surface, or about a quarter of the diameter of Earth itself. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/closest-known-asteroid-flyby-ztf0dxq-2020-qg…
When the sky exploded: Remembering Tunguska
On June 30, 1908, the largest asteroid impact in recorded history occurred in remote Siberia, Russia. We now celebrate Asteroid Day each year on the anniversary the Tunguska event, as it is now known. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/what-is-the-tunguska-explosion…
Asteroid Day, June 30, live from Luxembourg
The 6th annual Asteroid Day will be held as a digital event on June 30, 2020. It’ll feature presentations with experts, panel discussions, and question-and-answer periods. Here’s how to participate. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/international-asteroid-day-june-30…
Biggest asteroid to pass close (and undetected) this year
Asteroid 2020 LD passed within the moon’s distance on June 5, but wasn’t discovered until June 7. It’s the 45th known and the largest asteroid to sweep within a lunar-distance of Earth so far in 2020. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/asteroid-2020-ld-closer-than-moon-june-5-2020…