2.14.13 Asteroid Coming Close To Us! - FOX44 - Burlington / Plattsburgh News, Weather & Sports

2.14.13 Asteroid Coming Close To Us!

Uh oh!

Cue the movie Armageddon, well not really. NASA is continuously monitoring an asteroid that is going to pass quite close to Earth Friday, February 15. However NASA says the chance of it hitting us is 0%.

Here's a bullet point run through of this passing piece of rock/boulder/dust/etc:

• NAME: 2012 DA14
• SIZE: ~45 meters in diameter, about half a football field
• RISK OF HITTING US: 0%
• CLOSEST TO US: 17,150 miles
• WHEN: Friday, February 15 2013
• WHEN: About 2:25 p.m. EST
• Source: www.nasa.gov

The asteroid is going to come within the orbit of weather and communication satellites, though NASA does not anticipate is making impact with them. This distance of about 17k miles from us is pretty close, it's a closer than 1/10 the distance to the moon. 2012 DA14 has an orbit of 366.2 days around the sun.

Apparently this thing is worth a pretty penny! A mining firm says the raw materials are worth billions of dollars:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2278196/DA14-asteroid-worth-billions-mined-natural-resources.html

As it does pass by, it will be at its closest point directly over the eastern Indian Ocean. NASA has a great page with animations and simple FAQ's here:

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/asteroidflyby.html

Also did you know? You can get a live video stream of the event as it happens between 2:00-2:30 p.m. Friday here:

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2013/feb/HQ_M13-031_Asteroid_Flyby_Coverage.html

-Meteorologist Steve Glazier

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