Asteroid To Hit Earth!

An asteroid missed Earth by only 310,000 miles October 30. We know this thanks to a new tool from NASA called “Scout,” which calculated this particular asteroid was not a danger to our planet and its inhabitants.

Scout is a computer program under test by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California as an early warning system. The program gathers data from multiple telescopes to identify which celestial bodies qualify as “Near-Earth Objects” NEO.  

The space agency defines NEO's as comets or asteroids that have entered “Earth’s neighborhood” from the gravitational pull of other planets such that they could come under the influence of our gravity. Data gathered by scientists from this year alone, according to the International Astronomical Union, have discovered over 1,500 "new" NEOs.  They are really not new, but identified for the first time.

Scout is anticipated to be officially up and running later this year—and focuses solely on relatively small space objects, which are more difficult to spot since they are not as bright as larger asteroids. Take tonight’s asteroid, for example: it is estimated to measure anywhere from 16.5 feet to 80 feet in diameter. 

Without Scout, smaller asteroids are often discovered just before they pass earth. With Scout, scientists can learn of smaller NEOs days in advance and then start calculating if there is any risk for Earth while also ordering other telescopes to confirm the findings.

The October 30 asteroid was spotted by the NASA-funded Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System in Maui, Hawaii five days ago. The data was analyzed by Scout, which revealed the celestial body would be missing the planet by 310,000 miles, for comparison, Earth’s moon is 238,900 miles away, and the calculation was verified by three other telescopes.

Astronomer Paul Chodas, manager of the NASA NEO Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told NPR that asteroids passing the planet are a nightly occurrence, roughly five a night, but knowing which ones are harmful is the challenge.

“When a telescope first finds a moving object, all you know is it’s just a dot, moving on the sky,” said Chodas. “You have no information about how far away it is. The more telescopes you get pointed at an object, the more data you get, and the more you’re sure you are how big it is and which way it’s headed. But sometimes you don’t have a lot of time to make those observations.”

 Contributed by Wraaven
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Comment:  Asteroid collision is a very real threat to Earth and one that we know how to deal with.  Instead of wasting money on "Man in Space" programs we prefer to call "Jockstraps in Space, going where no man has gone before because it was stupid."

Adrian Vance