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Breaking News => Space News and Current Space Weather Conditions => Topic started by: rdunk on June 07, 2014, 04:12:00 PM

Title: ‘Beast’ Asteroid That Will Buzz By Earth Big Enough To Wipe Out A City
Post by: rdunk on June 07, 2014, 04:12:00 PM
Here comes another one that will miss our dear Earth! But it does seem that we play in the game of constant "Russian Roulette" with incoming asteroids. To make us feel good, this article tells us "Astronomers reckon they've discovered about 95 percent of the potential "civilization-enders" near us." But then this article takes the "feel good" away in saying, "But they warn there are probably more than 1 million near-Earth asteroids at least 100 feet wide, and less than 1 percent of them have been discovered".  :o  :)

June 6, 2014 8:42 PM

TAMPA (CBS Tampa) – "The Beast" is coming! That's the nickname astronomers have given to an asteroid that will nearly sideswipe Earth this Sunday, reports Space.com.

Near-Earth asteroid 2014 HQ124 will be a mere 777,000 miles at its closest approach to our planet, that's just over 3 times the distance from the Earth to the moon; a close shave by cosmic standards.

Observers assure us that there is no chance of a collision, but the do say this fly-by illustrates the danger of a meteor strike.

2014 HQ124 is 1,100 feet wide and is travelling about 31,000 mph, relative to Earth. If it was on a collision course, the planet's gravity would actually increase its speed to about 40,000 mph at impact.

More:  http://tampa.cbslocal.com/2014/06/06/beast-asteroid-that-will-buzz-by-earth-big-enough-to-wipe-out-a-city/