Asteroid Hits Earth in 2012?

The premise of the popular 2012 movie is not based on an asteroid striking the earth. But, the movie does touch on the Mayan belief that the world will come to an end due to cataclysmic cosmic events. The movie itself is made up of a bunch of improbable disasters, that are quite physically impossible, in a similiar fashion as events are portrayed in the "The Day After Tomorrow." (Ahh yes, another fine Roland Emmerich flick.)

Could an asteroid take out the planet earth in 2012 instead? That one I will not answer, but there is a really interesting web site provided by NASA that lists Near Earth Objects. The site indicates potential for impact, along with an indicator on how dangerous the objects pose to the earth. The website covers passes by objects with the potential for hitting the earth for about the next hundred years or so. This site does not include yet to be discovered objects, and new ones are occasionally added to the list.

The Near Earth Object site lists 2007 VK184 as the most dangerous known object to the Earth. It is set to pass close by on June 3, 2048. This asteroid has about a 1 in 3400 hundred chance of striking the earth on when it passes by in 2048. This basically means that there is a 99.9% chance that the asteroid will miss us. Whew! By the way, 2007 VK184 is about 130 meters across, so if it does impact the Earth, it could cause significant destruction.

Here the link to the site that lists near earth objects by NASA.

Dawn Spacecraft Enters Asteroid Belt

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has made its way into the asteroid belt and will stay there for the remainder of its mission. Dawn was launched On September 27,2007 and first made entry into the asteroid belt for a brief period in June 2008 for about 40 days. Its orbit then carried the craft out of the belt. Now it will remain within the belt for the remainder of its mission.

The Dawn mission will study these two asteroids to learn about the formation of planets in our solar system. It will be the first ever to orbit two planetary bodies on a single voyage. There are considerable differences between Cera and Vesta. Vesta is thought to be made of rocky material then Ceres has more water bearing minerals and may contain large amounts of ice. Usually, objects that have icy materials are found in the outer reaches of the solar system. Scientists are interested in looking for any links between the formation of our planets, and as well is gaining a better understanding of the geology of these two bodies.

Now Dawn will remain in the belt and will make its way to two of the largest bodies within the belt, Vesta and Ceres. Dawn is expected to reach Vespa in 2011, a little under two years. Then it will depart in 2012 and head for Ceres in 2015.

Meteor, Most Likely "not" a Leonid Stirs Up Utah

Around midnight last night a meteor streaked across the sky in and around Salt Lake City, Utah. It was visible to thousands across much of northern Utah. The meteor came in from the northeast and streaked towards the south. It was most likely was not associated with the Leonid meteor shower, which peaked just yesterday. Eye witness accounts and later analysis has suggested that this was a sporadic bollide.

It exploded in the sky and produced a significant amount of light, giving off a greenish hue. Some reports of a sonic boom were also made. Sonic booms associated with meteors are quite common.

You can head on over to Fox 13's report on the meteor and catch a glimpse of the object, and the light show it produced on some security cam footage as it came into the Earth's atmosphere.

In addition to the report, a significant number of people left comments on the Fox 13 report saw the event. There are a couple of comments from Toole county that indicate that the meteor either came close to the ground there, or may have possibly hit the ground in Toole County.

I once witnessed something like this in Northeastern Arizona a couple of years ago, but only the resultant bright green light. The meteor exploded somewhere off to the north in the event I saw, but the security camera footage from the report above looked very similar to what I saw at that time.

Near Miss Asteroid

A couple of days ago, asteroid 2009VA whizzed by the earth, coming within 8,700 miles (~14000 km) of the earth. This is the third closest approach of a known asteroid. The space rock was 23 feet across, which is a modest size for an asteroid. In fact, objects of this size are known to strike the earth about once every 5 years. The Tugunska, Siberia impact in 1908 is said to have been caused by an object that was 100 feet across. The Tugunska event wiped out about 1200 square miles of forest.

The Catalina Sky Survey discovered asteroid 2009VA about 15 hours before it made its closest approach. The obit has been calculated by JPL's Near-Earth Object Program Office and the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, MA. Asteroid 2009VA is moving a little faster then the earth in its orbit, and is now cruising our towards the orbital path of Mars.

It will cross the orbital path of Mars well before Mars arrives. So, both Mars and the Earht have little to fear from this piece of space rock...for now.

November Nights

Two meteor showers are most dominant during the month of November. The ongoing Taurids kick off the month and peak sometime during the 5th through the 12th of November. These showers actually start back in September and are caused by two debris streams in our solar system. The earth passes through the the densest portion of the stream by the 12 of the month and may feature between 5 and 10 meteors per hour.

The more famous Leonid showers peak on the night of the 17th and morning of the 18th. The Leonids have long been known to kick off some of the greatest meteor storms in history featuring thousands of meteors per hour. In recent years, activity has been down. There is the chance that 2009 may be a more active year. One thing is for certain is that this year we will be guaranteed dark skies. This is because the shower peak will occur near a new moon. There will be dark sky viewing, so it will be well worth it for you to bundle up, and get out there for the show!

Perseid Meteor Shower Report 2009

This year's Perseid Meteor Shower was a bust for me this year. We had several lines of thunderstorms move over us last night and the sky was blotted out by clouds. It was cloudy with light rain falling for most of the night. There was plenty of lightning around so we got a fireworks show of sorts.

If you happened to be one of the unlucky ones under cloud cover last night, there still is a chance to get out in the night skies to see a few stray shooting stars over the next few days. The earth is still passing through debris left by Comet Swift-Tuttle for a few more days. In my location, there is a chance that skies will clear enough tonight get out for some viewing.

In addition, there are always a chance at catching the other ongoing meteor showers. These are the the Delta Aquarids and Kappa Cygnids. The meteors associated with this shower track across the sky more slowly than Perseids and travel in different directions, from their respective constellations. They are not as active as Perseid showers but are readily seen with patient sky watching.

Active Persied Meteor Shower Possible for 2009

Look for the Persied Meteor Shower to be a little more active during the late evening of August 11th and the early morning hours of August 12th. NASA is predicting that the earth will pass through a dense cloud of comet dust a little after midnight Pacific time or 9 or 10 PM east coast time. During this time frame, the Persieds could peak with twice their normal intensity.

The Persieds are one of my favorite showers to view. This is because usually during the summer months there is nice mild nighttime weather. This is one of the better shower to view because you can expect to see 100 hundred or more meteors per minute.

Since the comet dust is particularly dense this year, there is a chance that a much higher rate, or even an outburst will be observed. Hopefully, we will a have clear skies!

Best places to observe the event will be from an area away from city lights. Be sure to bring some insect repellent along.

Yet Another Meteor Movie

NBC is airing the final part of its 2 night movie called Meteor. It is funny how they have tried to combine a typical Cop vs. Bad Guy TV drama into a somewhat of a faux Syfi thriller. This is a premise that may have worked in the 1970's, but now?

The problem is that both story lines in the movie have been played out thousands of times just about every night the week in catch-a-killer police dramas, and thousands of time in movies about bashing into the earth with heroes dashing in at that last minute to save the world.

I spent about 5 minutes watching this movie, with little expectations, and got exactly what I expected.

I would rather watch a show about nothing...