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03 February 2013

Near-Earth Asteroid 2012 DA14 to Miss Earth on February 15, 2013


Discovered by the LaSagra observatory in southern Spain, the small asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass within  22,245 of the Earth's surface  on February 15, 2013. The asteroid will travel rapidly from the southern evening sky into the northern morning sky with its closest Earth approach occurring about 2:26 PM EST when it will achieve a magnitude of less than seven, which is somewhat fainter than naked eye visibility. About 4 minutes after its Earth close approach, there is a good chance it will pass into the Earth's shadow for about 18 minutes or so before reappearing from the eclipse. When traveling rapidly into the northern morning sky, 2012 DA14 will quickly fade in brightness. 

Key points - 
  • The asteroid will (should) not impact Earth on February 15, 2013.
  • There is a 1 in 7,692,308,000 chance of 2012 DA impacting Earth on 16 February 2110.
If it were to hit Earth, it is estimated that it would produce the equivalent of 2.5 megatons of TNT. To put than in perspective, the maximum yield of a nuclear bomb in the U.S. weapons arsenal is 1.2 megatons.

2 comments:

  1. I don't understand why do people speculate things and why do people come to a conclusion those scientists are providing "end of the world news"...... They are just providing you an information... The news just say it may travel closer to Planet Earth...

    The Last impact event was Tunguska blast... and above all, thousands of meteors hit the Planet every day...Most are the size of a grain of rice, or the size basketball or smaller... Once a week Earth is hit by a rock the size of Car, once every few months size of a house... Every few hundred years bigger things... The vast majority of these burn up in the atmosphere... and lots of object go into the inner solar system without colliding with any planets...

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    Replies
    1. The key points were made by the scientist.

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