150-Foot Asteroid Skims By Earth At Eerily Close Distance

by | Apr 16, 2018 | Headline News | 13 comments

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    Just hours after being spotted, a 150-foot asteroid skimmed by Earth dangerously close. Astronomers spotted the asteroid on April 15, and not long later, passed by the globe at a distance of 119,500 miles.

    Astronomers named Asteroid 2018 GE3, was closest to Earth at around 2.41 a.m. ET on April 15 when it was spotted about 119,500 miles away. EarthSky.org reported that that’s much closer than the moon, which orbits Earth at an average distance of 238,900 miles. GE3 also passed close to the moon later that morning on its journey around the sun. Asteroid 2018 GE3, an Apollo-type earth-crossing asteroid, was flying through space at 66,174 miles per hour (106,497 km/h).

    According to EarthSky.org, Asteroid 2018 GE3 could be as much as six times bigger than the Chelyabinsk meteorite, which exploded over central Russia in 2013. When the rock hit the atmosphere it caused a bright flash, and thousands of fragments fell throughout the region of Chelyabinsk, breaking windows and injuring about 1,500 people. If GE3 had entered Earth’s atmosphere it could have caused similar, if not more severe, damage. -Time

    Earth has had several close encounters, but no real and tangible threat has arisen in recent years of an asteroid impacting the planet. The asteroid was first observed by the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey project, based at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Lab in Tucson, Arizona.

    With an estimated diameter of 157 to 361 feet (48 to 110 meters), asteroid 2018 GE3 has about three to six times the diameter of the space rock that penetrated the skies over Chelyabinsk, Russia in February 2013, causing some 1,500 people to seek treatment for injuries, mostly from flying glass.

    If the asteroid had entered our atmosphere, a great portion of the space rock would have disintegrated due to friction with the air. However, some of an asteroid this size might have gotten through to Earth’s surface, and an asteroid this big is capable of causing some regional damage, depending on various factors such as composition, speed, entry angle, and location of impact. It might make you feel better (or worse) to know that asteroids enter Earth’s atmosphere unnoticed on a fairly regular basis.

    For example, in 2014, scientists announced 26 atom-bomb-scale asteroid impacts since 2000 that were discovered in data from the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, which operates a network of sensors that monitors Earth around the clock listening for the infrasound signature of nuclear detonations. Earth’s atmosphere does a good job of protecting us from incoming asteroids. Most explode high in the atmosphere, or over an ocean, and therefore do no harm. –EarthSky.org

    Earth wasn’t in danger with this asteroid’s close passing, but there are many that could pose a threat in the future. Astronomers have increased their programs to seek near-Earth asteroids like 2018 GE3, but sometimes, like this time and as in 2013 with the Chelyabinsk event, asteroids do still surprise us.

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      13 Comments

      1. ALERT! Using undiscovered evidence this was a chemical attack by men on the moon! Quick Orange Julius, Send 500 old tomahwks missles to the moon and take out those terrists! Go USA, Go USA!

        • You are a worthless scumbag

      2. Zero Hedge is now having advertisements camo themselves as news, the China Ad IS CRAP!!!!!!!!! Keep it up and more will not bother to show up.

      3. The disturbing part of this is that the asteroid wasn’t spotted until it was right on us. Look up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s a 300-foot asteroid coming to kill us! This could ruin your whole day!

      4. I spent nearly ten years working with really smart people
        in astronomy. Although I don’t have much official(I have some)
        graduate credit
        I had the best astronomy instructors in the world.
        None of them have a clue of what to do if a big rock was heading for
        Earth. My favorite PhD said I guess we will just die.

        • Simple. You do just like they said to do for an atomic bomb! You hide under your school desk and you will be OK! OH! And don’t forget to go buy your rolls of duct tape and plastic sheeting! (Remember the fights that broke out in H.D. when the dept of homeland stupidity recommended that one!)

      5. This asteroid demonstrates how human space travel is an impossibility. It’s the mere fact they can’t slow an object down enough to be able to reenter the atmosphere without a catastrophic ending. They first have to be able to haul enough fuel not only to get into orbit but also a significant amount to just slow down.

        Sorry people, you’ve been had with these NASA stories.

      6. Someone needs to come up with better glass. Something clear like the glass in vehicles that breaks up safely but for buildings.

        Or

        Something soft like plastic wrap.

        _

      7. *yawn*

      8. Think of a few of the differences that cave men have with us, and you have a context. Back in those days, they had no comprehension as to how their world worked, on levels beyond sustenance. Now we are aware of our place in the solar system, and how fragile life on earth is. If your house was on fire, you’d call the fire dept. So, if you remain aware as to the threat of asteroids, and meteors, and such, you will be that much better prepared and able to mitigate the bad stuff. The lack of a little humility around here astounds me. You don’t have to run around like chicken little, just calmly stay aware of situations, and plan and prepare accordingly. Even if all you are able to do about these situations, is minimal, it may make the difference. Joe, the same engineering that makes it possible for you to travel down roads and bridges in a car, is the same engineering that makes space travel possible.

      9. Dang it! Missed again!

        Well…back to the preps.

        Grunty

      10. Really, really, passed by the globe at a distance of 119,500 miles. I would say that not even close…

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