Asteroid flyby today

[NeverMind]

ASTEROID FLYBY: Newly-discovered asteroid 2012 BX34 is flying past Earth today only 77,000 km (0.2 lunar distances) away. There is no danger of a collision with the 14-meter wide space rock. Advanced amateur astronomers might be able to observe the flyby as the bus-sized asteroid brightens to 14th magnitude just before closest approach on Jan. 27th at 1530 UT

http://spaceweather.com/

Nothing to worry about.
It's already gone by, and it was small anyway.

What's funny, in a weird sort of way, is that we don't even get much notice in advance.
I remember that rock, about two metres "big" (i.e. considerably smaller than this one), that flew past the Earth a few months ago received much more attention.

P.S Look at this:

Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size


2012 BS1
Jan 23
3.1 LD
--
10 m
2012 BY1
Jan 24
2 LD
--
30 m
1991 VK
Jan 25
25.3 LD (this one was VERY far away)
--
1.9 km
2012 BW13
Jan 26
1.7 LD
--
16 m
2012 BX34
Jan 27
0.2 LD
--
14 m
2012 BD14
Jan 30
5.8 LD (not close either)
--

[13th Warrior]

Yeah, i just looked at the chart earlier this week and this one wasn't on it.

[NeverMind]

Yeah, i just looked at the chart earlier this week and this one wasn't on it.

Infuriating, huh?
And that's not all: look at this quote from Space.com (of all websites!), published TODAY:



Asteroid 2012 BX34 was the second space rock to fly relatively close by Earth this week, Asteroid Watch scientists said. On Jan. 23, another small asteroid — called 2012 BS1 — passed by the planet at a range of about 745,000 miles (1.2 million km), which is about 3.1 times the Earth-moon distance.


http://www.space.com/14382-bus-size-asteroid-2012bx34-buzzes-earth.html?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=SP_01272012

Really? The second one?
What about the other two between these two - one of which was almost 2 kilometres (or more than a mile) wide?
And a third one that is coming on January 30th (and that's not counting the far away one)?

Also, notice the year when they were discovered.... Enough said.

I know there is little danger from small asteroids, which are detected late (although not ALL asteroids that are detected late are small).
It's just slightly infuriating that they spread semi-information, which is almost worse than no information at all.

EDIT. Sorry, the copy & paste doesn't work well for charts. :)
The 1,9 km wide one WAS the "far away" one.
Nevertheless...

[13th Warrior]

Interesting...

[NeverMind]

I thought I could modify the title of the thread... Guess I can't.
It was going to be much more accurate:

FOUR ASTEROID NEAR-MISSES THIS WEEK - and another one coming soon :-)

[taizen]

Check this out:
Near Earth Object Program (http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/faq/)
How Many Near-Earth Objects Have Been Discovered So Far?

As of January 25, 2012, 8619 Near-Earth objects have been discovered. Some 840 of these NEOs are asteroids with a diameter of approximately 1 kilometer or larger. Also, 1281 of these NEOs have been classified as Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs).

So, when were they going to tell the rest of us about this? :suspicious:

[NeverMind]

So, when were they going to tell the rest of us about this? :suspicious:

That's just it: judging by the curious omission of no less than two asteroids this week alone (yesterday's asteroid, which is not mentioned, was larger than today's - and we are talking about SPACE.com, for crying out loud), they were/are not going to update us on that.

Like I said, I don't think there's a conspiracy or anything - I do understand they are difficult to detect (plus there is not much you can do once you do discover it) - but honestly.... it's a matter of principle, isn't it?

It IS curious, to say the least.

[lindabaker]

Exactly, NeverMind! It takes very little time to post a new bit of information on an existing site. FAIL.

[NeverMind]

Exactly, NeverMind! It takes very little time to post a new bit of information on an existing site. FAIL.

Yes!
But what puzzles me the most is the ommission, by the writer of a serious astronomy website (Space.com), of those that have already happened.

Have another look at what the reporter said (as told by Asteroid Watch):


Asteroid 2012 BX34 was the second space rock to fly relatively close by Earth this week, Asteroid Watch scientists said. On Jan. 23, another small asteroid — called 2012 BS1 — passed by the planet at a range of about 745,000 miles (1.2 million km), which is about 3.1 times the Earth-moon distance.


Is it because putting it like this:

"Oh, and there was another one yesterday, and another one the day before yesterday, and another one a day before that. In fact, we have been near-missed by an asteroid every single day since January 23rd (that we know)"

... just wouldn't sound quite as scientifically reassuring? :)

Either way, it not a near-miss, it's a HUGE miss by the authors of those reports.
Shame on you, Space.com.