Duck! 2009 DD45 is flying by

Late word out of the IAU's Minor Planet Center: a small asteroid will pass close to Earth [on] ...March 2nd ... at 13:44 Universal Time. How close? The MPC's Timothy Spahr calculates that it'll be 0.00047 astronomical unit from Earth's center. That's only about 40,000 miles (63,500 km) up -- well inside the Moon's orbit and roughly twice the altitude of most communications satellites!

This object is about 30 meters across. If it struck a dinosaur, it would probably kill it. But, unlike this object that struck the earth recently, this asteroid is going to fly by.

Apparently, people in Tahiti will have/had a close enough look to read the serial numbers.

Details here.

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"Every man is free to rise as far as he's able or willing, but the degree to which he thinks determines the degree to which he'll rise." -Ayn Rand
I recently got this comment of incredulity on my article about what wiped out the dinosaurs?
Remember that asteroid that was supposed to pass harmlessly by the Earth on Sunday? Well, things didn't go exactly as planned...
The Drake Equation is that famous equation where you count how many stars there are, figure out the chance of a star having planets, of planets having water, etc. etc. until finally you get some rough estimate of the chance of live evolving elsewhere in the universe.

If it struck Godzilla it would make him Very Angry.

By Nathan Myers (not verified) on 02 Mar 2009 #permalink