Quote:
Originally Posted by Werfer
If the parameters are entered in here http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/impacteffects/
it seems that a worst case direct hit by TU24 would be equivalent to a 2700 MT explosion - enough to take out a city, temporarily shut down a small state, or cause a medium tsunami. |
Who cares? It's not going to even come close any time soon.
Let's review the sort of distance we're talking about. Here is a scale model of Earth and Moon (source:
Wikipedia):
Current estimate of closest approach of 2007 TU24 is 0.003704 AU, via
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics: PHA Close Approaches To The Earth:
Quote:
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2007 TU24 2454494.85 2008 Jan. 29.35 0.003704 1-opposition, arc = 83 days E2008-A05 2007 TU24
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The moon orbits at a distance approximately 0.00257 AU, so the current close approach of 2007 TU24 is about 50% more than the Earth-Moon distance pictured. That would probably put it way off the edge of your computer monitor, several more inches.
If the experts are off by a whopping 100,000 kilometers, it will still be outside the moon's orbit.
Why aren't you more worried about the Moon smacking your noggin? It comes nearer than this asteroid's pass every day.