INCOMING!, Detection and observation of Earth-approaching asteroids. |
INCOMING!, Detection and observation of Earth-approaching asteroids. |
Oct 6 2008, 07:53 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
no sone seems to have noticed this yet
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Nov 18 2009, 08:10 PM
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Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 5172 Joined: 4-August 05 From: Pasadena, CA, USA, Earth Member No.: 454 |
Although there are constantly people looking at some part of the sky, the entire sky is not photographed continuously, and faint objects can (and, most often, do) slip by unobserved, or are only seen within hours of their closest approach. And don't forget that we basically have no hope of spotting previously undiscovered things that are coming at us from the dayside of Earth! But these faintest objects that are only discovered within hours of their closest approach are also the smallest and, if they were to hit us, would explode in the atmosphere on their way down; any damage on the ground is caused by direct hits from flying debris, rather than from impact effects. Larger objects are brighter and therefore discovered earlier. Only one asteroid has ever been discovered before it became an impactor -- 2008 TC3.
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