From: Bodie (mclarkc@essex.ac.uk)
Date: Wed Jan 09 2002 - 04:59:59 MST
Two quick points about this:
1) This asteroid wasn't big enough to wipe out all humanity, although it
was big. We would get more warning of a bigger rock coming our way (and
who needs france anyway :))
2) With this rock we had about 2 1/2 weeks to do something about it. I
think with a doomsday rock we would have probably double that, easily
enough time to formulate some sort of plan
On Tue, 8 Jan 2002, Walter Watts wrote:
>
> This thing was only discovered 12/26/01.
>
> 520,000 miles!
>
> I guess that's about all the warning we'll get
> when the one with OUR name on it comes to visit.
>
> Walter
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------
> Immense Asteroid Passes Earth
>
> 01/08/2002 2:06 PM EST
>
> An asteroid large enough to wipe out France hurtled past the Earth at a
> distance of a half-million miles just days after scientists spotted it.
>
> The asteroid, dubbed 2001 YB5, came within 520,000 miles of Earth on
> Monday, approximately twice the distance of the moon.
>
> Dozens of asteroids pass close by the Earth each year, though 2001 YB5
> was closer than most. On Friday, for instance, an asteroid known as 2001
> UU92 will pass with 11 million miles of Earth.
>
> Asteroid 2001 YB5, estimated to be 1,000 feet across, was traveling
> about 68,000 mph relative to the Earth when it zipped past.
>
> "It's a fairly substantial rock. If it had hit us at that sort of speed,
> you would be taking out a medium-size country, France, I suppose, or
> Texas, or something of that order," said Jay Tate, director of the
> Spaceguard Centre in Wales.
>
> Astronomers with the NASA's Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking program
> discovered 2001 YB5 on Dec. 26. Soon after, astronomers calculated the
> asteroid's orbit and determined there was no danger it would strike
> Earth.
>
> As astronomers discover more and more near-Earth asteroids, they seek a
> standardized way of alerting the public to the hazard they might pose.
> Among programs already in place is the Spaceguard Centre's Comet and
> Asteroid Information Network, which began work Jan. 1.
>
> --
>
> Walter Watts
> Tulsa Network Solutions, Inc.
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Sep 25 2002 - 13:28:38 MDT