Asteroid the size of the Washington Monument will fly past Earth this month

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Makuser United States of America
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Asteroid the size of the Washington Monument will fly past Earth this month

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Post by Makuser »


Just days after an asteroid the size of the Empire State Building flew past Earth, another "potentially hazardous" space rock will do the same. Asteroid 2019 OU1 will safely pass by Earth on Aug. 28, coming within 639,000 miles or 0.00687 astronomical units of the planet. At an estimated diameter of 71 to 160 meters (233 to 524 feet), 2019 OU1 has sparked comparisons to the 555-foot tall Washington Monument. 2019 OU1 is also hurtling through space at roughly 42,650 feet per second, according to data compiled by NASA. The space rock is known as a near-Earth object (NEO) and "potentially hazardous" NEOs are defined as space objects that come within 0.05 astronomical units and measure more than 460 feet in diameter, according to NASA. According to a 2018 report put together by Planetary.org, there are more than 18,000 NEOs. You can read more about Asteroid 2019 OU1 here, at:
https://www.foxnews.com/science/asteroi ... past-earth
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Re: Asteroid the size of the Washington Monument will fly past Earth this month

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Always a brides maid...:D
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Re: Asteroid the size of the Washington Monument will fly past Earth this month

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Giant Asteroid, 2020!
-- Brett

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Re: Asteroid the size of the Washington Monument will fly past Earth this month

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Post by Star Dad »


This spring, thanks to GSofCT (Girl Scouts of Connecticut) I attended astronomy camp at the University of Arizona. We got to stop by and see the NEO telescope and "command central" Not a lot to it... couple of computers and a red phone. No, the red phone does not connect to the White House or the Pentagon... it's just a red phone. We got to speak with the only astronomer that has found three NEO meteors that collided with earth. For the life of me I can't remember his name. As I recall - one hit Australia, one in the Atlantic, and one in Africa. The Aussies sent him a piece of the one that hit there. No one has gone to look for the African one because of constant fighting in the region. It's a pretty neat setup they have scanning/photographing large swaths of sky each night looking for something headed our way. Mostly computerized, although a human does have to make the call and alert other scopes around the globe to confirm a potential collision.
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Re: Asteroid the size of the Washington Monument will fly past Earth this month

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Post by KingNothing13 »


Star Dad wrote: Tue Aug 13, 2019 5:39 pm This spring, thanks to GSofCT (Girl Scouts of Connecticut) I attended astronomy camp at the University of Arizona. We got to stop by and see the NEO telescope and "command central" Not a lot to it... couple of computers and a red phone. No, the red phone does not connect to the White House or the Pentagon... it's just a red phone. We got to speak with the only astronomer that has found three NEO meteors that collided with earth. For the life of me I can't remember his name. As I recall - one hit Australia, one in the Atlantic, and one in Africa. The Aussies sent him a piece of the one that hit there. No one has gone to look for the African one because of constant fighting in the region. It's a pretty neat setup they have scanning/photographing large swaths of sky each night looking for something headed our way. Mostly computerized, although a human does have to make the call and alert other scopes around the globe to confirm a potential collision.
That's really cool, and really disturbing at the same time.
-- Brett

Scope: Apertura AD10 with Nexus II with 8192/716000 Step Encoders
EPs: ES 82* 18mm, 11mm, 6.7mm; GSO 30mm
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