Heads up! Asteroid set to come closer than the man-made satellites that power GPS, NASA says

[PassTheBong]

[tab]In this oblique view, the path of near-Earth asteroid 2012 DA14 is seen passing close to Earth on Feb. 15, 2013. [/tab][img]http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/images/2012da14.jpg[/img]

[url=http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news174.html]Source (NASA)[/url]

Fox covered it first, but they really bended NASAs words, so I went directly to the source.

[wickedplayer494]

Can't wait for the conspiracy nuts to go crazy over this claiming this is the new Nibiru/Planet X.

[Uber|nooB]

eh, that will pass closer than geosynchronous orbit, but GPS satellites are in medium Earth orbit, not geosynchronous

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/ConstellationGPS.gif[/img]

[PassTheBong]

[QUOTE=Uber|nooB;39427225]eh, that will pass closer than geosynchronous orbit, but GPS satellites are in medium Earth orbit, not geosynchronous

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/ConstellationGPS.gif[/img][/QUOTE]

There's [url=http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/01/31/record-setting-asteroid-to-shave-past-earth-next-month/]fox news[/url] for you. Thanks.

[Breen]

Damn, Just below naked eye viability. Hopefully someone catches some video or footage of it though

[MIPS]

It's still really fucking far.

[bazalicious]

this looks sht!!!!! haha

[GoldenGnome]

<--------
To Sun

[smurfy]

Apophis is also going to do this

[AfroNick]

Aw, it's trying its best to see Earth for Valentine's Day. Too bad it's going to be late :C

[Bradyns]

[QUOTE=MIPS;39427726]It's still really fucking far.[/QUOTE]

Astronomically speaking, no.

[MarkG06]

[QUOTE=smurfy;39427929]Apophis is also going to do this[/QUOTE]

Isn't Apophis going to be a bit further away than this? I recall seeing the front cover of a science mag and they said that people were worried about Apophis but there was one that was going to come closer way sooner.

[Dacheet]

[QUOTE=markg06;39428124]Isn't Apophis going to be a bit further away than this? I recall seeing the front cover of a science mag and they said that people were worried about Apophis but there was one that was going to come closer way sooner.[/QUOTE]

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Apophis_pass_zoom.svg/500px-Apophis_pass_zoom.svg.png[/img]
I couldn't find an estimate, but it's still pretty goddamned close

[kanesenpai~]

Oh shit, this is how it [I]happens.[/I]

North Korea will launch a crude nuclear missile at the asteroid and shatter it enough that huge chunks of flaming meteorite land on themselves instead of everyone else.

[007JamesBond007]

I read about this in my bros science book while on the bog. Apparently millions of asteroids pass by us unseen every minute. Only a few get this close but they never collide.
My first informational crap.