Still cool, though.
http://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/51000/5196...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Speed_of_...
PS will it be visible to naked eye? if yes then when and where and for how long and where in the sky? can there be a real time Google earth 3d simulation like NASA did for space shuttle launch?
Quick OOM calc: This thing has an area proportional to the moon of (200m/1700km)^2. The moon has an albedo of ~0.12. An object with albedo 1 would thus have a brightness of ~1e-7 of the Moon's. The full Moon has a magnitude of -12.7, so such an object would have a magnitude of -12.7-2.5log10(1e-7), or about 4.8. That's clearly visible to the naked eye at a dark site, but not very impressive.
EDIT: in case you couldn't fathom, that was sarcasm.
EDIT 2: seriously, stop it! or reply as to why are you down voting? is it a crime to mistakenly post a comment and then acknowledge your mistake or are you guys just some proud 'elite' HNers?
If you find yourself editing your post asking people not to downvote, it's time to delete it.
Source: http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php (scroll to the bottom for Earth approaching objects)
Wouldn't flooding the market with that much gold...crash it? Are we really talking about that many billions and billions of dollars worth of potential revenue from mining an asteroid?
This all just seems like fun sci-fantasy.
Well, presumably only a single party is going to recover that gold. If they dumped the whole load onto the market, it would crash. But if they release it slowly, then a greater supply from each batch would cause "inflation", so that the price they could get from the next batch would be lower. But they could still derive significant wealth before trailed off.
Instead consider a big hunk of asteroid mined gold sitting in orbit. Free storage, and quick delivery to anywhere in the world. Park it up there and drop pieces of it when the prices are high enough.
Meaning: stand on a point of the Earth such that the moon is situated exactly above the opposite side of the Earth. Then look up. All that stuff you see is closer to the Earth than the moon.
The moon doesn't stop being closer to the earth simply because you can't see it from a particular point on the Earth.
About the only thing you can say is that if you were to proceed outward on a linear path from the opposite side of the Earth from that which the moon is currently positioned, then you would reach something other than the moon sooner than you would reach the moon.
But that would be saying nothing, really.
You're not related to the Ravenous Bug Blatter Beast of Traal by any chance are you?
[The radar imaging] reveals 2005 YU55 as a spherical object about 400 meters (1,300 feet) in size.
Not only can the radar provide data on an asteroid's dimensions, but also on its exact location in space. Using Arecibo's high-precision radar astrometry capability, scientists were able to reduce orbit uncertainties for YU55 by 50 percent.
"At one time we had classified 2005 YU55 as a potential threat," said Steve Chesley, a scientist at JPL's Near-Earth Object Program Office. "Prior to the Arecibo radar passes on April 19 thru 21 [2010], we had eliminated almost all upcoming Earth flybys as possibilities of impact. But there were a few that had a low remaining probability of impact. After incorporating the data from Arecibo, we were able to rule impacts out entirely for the next 100 years."
*
So, they do know this one will be well-behaved for 100 years.
EDIT: although from the gif it appears that it was a close call on the moon. But i close my eyes and i see a world where i get out and see a small piece of rock hit our moon with a decent explosion when the moon is full. Man if it does't affect out planet in any way, i would really like to see that happen. Gives me goosebumps every time i visualize it! amazing..
