Asteroid Hits Earth... `'Good News: Scientists Predicted It,' - Bad News: Only Six Hours Before It Burst Into Our Atmosphere!!!!!!!

by **J The Kidd** Thu Oct 09, 2008 12:43 am

Scientists were today celebrating the first successful prediction of an asteroid smashing into the Earth's atmosphere.

The chunk of space debris burst in a spectacular fireball though it was no more than 15ft across.

Although it didn't actually hit Earth, it had an impact out of all
proportion to its size - because it enabled experts to prove they could
warn of potentially catastrophic asteroid strikes.

Asteroid Hits Earth... `'Good News: Scientists Predicted It,' - Bad News: Only Six Hours Before It Burst Into Our Atmosphere!!!!!!! FUCKYOUPAYMEMOSTUNDERRATEDOVERWORKEDUNDERPAID

'It's the first time we've been able to predict an impactor in
advance,' said Donald Yeomans, manager of Nasa's Near Earth Object
programme, which tracks asteroids and comets that come close to our
planet.

Tim Spahr, head of Harvard's Minor Planet Centre, added: 'If this
were something larger and it was going to hit the ground, we would be
able to get people out of the way.'

The asteroid - labeled 2008 TC3 - was spotted yesterday a little
farther away from Earth than the Moon by a U.S. observatory in Arizona.

It ploughed into the upper atmosphere above Sudan but could also be seen from Europe as it headed from west to east.

Astronomers were only able to give the world about six hours' notice because the rock was so dark and small.

The burn-up was just as astronomers had predicted. Any object entering
the atmosphere heats the air in front of it, which in turn heats the
hurtling object - and that spells disintegration for asteroids of TC3's
size.

The asteroid created a large fireball at about 2.46am GMT, the team at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said.

Astronomers warning of the impending impact had been keen to emphasise that the strike would not be dangerous.

There are 5,681 such asteroids in near-Earth orbit, but only 757 of
them are large enough to cause any damage if they hit the planet.

Rocks the size of TC3 hit Earth's atmosphere about two or three times a year without warning, Mr Yeomans said.

'A typical meteor comes from an object the size of a grain of sand,'
said Gareth Williams of the Minor Planet Centre, adding that TC3 was 'a
real humdinger in comparison'.

by **Johnnie Butters** Thu Oct 09, 2008 12:50 am

Asteroid Hits Earth... `'Good News: Scientists Predicted It,' - Bad News: Only Six Hours Before It Burst Into Our Atmosphere!!!!!!!

Asteroid Hits Earth... `'Good News: Scientists Predicted It,' - Bad News: Only Six Hours Before It Burst Into Our Atmosphere!!!!!!!

Re: Asteroid Hits Earth... `'Good News: Scientists Predicted It,' - Bad News: Only Six Hours Before It Burst Into Our Atmosphere!!!!!!!