Keep Watching The Skies!

“

-----Original Message-----
From: SpaceWeather.com [mailto:swlist@spaceweather.com]
Sent: Monday, October 06, 2008 4:03 PM
To: SpaceWeather.com
Subject: Small asteroid might hit Earth's atmosphere tonight

Space Weather News for Oct. 6, 2008
http://spaceweather.com

ASTEROID 2008 TC3: A small, newly-discovered asteroid named 2008 TC3 is approaching Earth and chances are good that it will hit. Measuring only a few meters across, the space rock poses no threat to people or structures on the ground, but it should create a spectacular fireball, releasing about a kiloton of energy as it disintegrates and explodes in the high atmosphere. At least one expert estimates that atmospheric entry will occur on Oct 7th at 0246 UTC over northern Sudan. Stay tuned to http://spaceweather.com for more information and updates to this developing story.

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”

“Can't get thru to spaceweather.com.   They've gotta be swamped.

~10 feet across
8 miles per second
~ 1 kiloton
around 10:46 p.m. EDT tonight
Northern Sudan


Multiple stories
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ned=&q=asteroid

Sky & Telescope
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/home/30528359.html

Astronomy
http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=7466

MPC Circular
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/mpec/K08/K08T50.html

International Astronomical Union Minor Planet Center
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/mpc.html

Asteroid Dynamic Site
http://hamilton.dm.unipi.it/cgi-bin/astdys/astibo

Near Earth Object Dynamic Site
http://newton.dm.unipi.it/cgi-bin/neodys/neoibo?riskpage:0;main

International Meteor Organization
http://www.imo.net/

The American Meteor Society
http://www.amsmeteors.org/

”

“
coolness
http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2008%20TC3;orb=1

3D orbital path from the JPL Small-Body Database Browser

”

“lol...tilt...I thought this was you...BUT I clicked on it to understand what it meant...lol...way cute!!!...THAT would be scary!!!”

“if it hits, it's gonna go bang!

..... in about an hour and a half.”

“really???..where should we look to??”

“Africa!     LOL      Northern Sudan.... just south of Egypt....

I hope somebody over there has their camera ready!”

“so we can't see it??”

“Noooooo..... unless you're posting from Sudan!   LOL

SOMEbody should get a pic, though!

I was just checking the news channels.   They don't have a clue.   Maybe if it knocked the #&%!$ out of Anderson Cooper they'd report it,   LMAO

”

“
ONE story did come in last night from an Indian news service through Google News (5:11 AM EDT).   They report it DID hit and give a time of impact 10 minutes later than the previous estimate but there aren't any eyewitness reports yet ------

Small asteroid strikes earth
Tuesday, 07 October , 2008

New Delhi: It was a spectacular show in the sky early Tuesday morning, when a small asteroid entered the earth's atmosphere releasing a huge amount of light and energy before exploding.

The asteroid, 2008 TC3, entered the earth's atmosphere at 2.46 am (GMT) in Sudan (Africa). The asteroid was also visible in Europe but not in Asia.

"Measuring only a few meters across, the space rock created a spectacular fireball, releasing huge energy as it disintegrated and exploded in the atmosphere," Director of Nehru Planetarium N Rathnashree said.

The celestial activity holds significance for space scientists as for the first time they were able to predict in advance that asteroid of such small size will hit the earth surface Tuesday morning, Rathnashree said.

Turning down apprehensions of small asteroids causing an impact on people and property, Rathnashree said: "There is nothing to be panicky as after explosion in the atmosphere, only small pieces reach the ground as meteorites."

When a small asteroid enters the earth atmosphere, it compresses the air in front of it. That compression heats the air, which in turn heats the object, causing it to glow and vaporize, with small pieces reaching the earth.

Astronomers in Arizona in the US discovered the asteroid on October 5 as it was inching closer to the earth.

”

“
Another confirmation (The Daily Mail, UK) ---- still no eyewitness description, though.


Asteroid hits Earth ... but at least we predicted it, say scientists
Last updated at 11:55 AM on 07th October 2008

Scientists were today celebrating the first successful prediction of an asteroid smashing into the Earth's atmosphere.

The space rock, no more than 15ft across, had an impact out of all proportion to its size as it enabled experts to prove they could warn of potentially catastrophic asteroid strikes.

The asteroid, discovered just yesterday by a U.S. observatory in Arizona, ploughed into the upper atmosphere above Sudan.

But as astronomers had predicted, it burned up before it could hit the ground or endanger aircraft.

The asteroid created a large fireball at about 2.46am GMT, the team at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said.

Astronomers warning of the impending impact had been keen to underline the fact that the strike would not be dangerous.

'We want to stress that this object is not a threat,' Dr Timothy Spahr, director of the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Centre at Harvard, said earlier.

'We're excited since this is the first time we have issued a prediction that an object will enter Earth's atmosphere.'

The asteroid, known as a meteoroid, is between 3ft and 15ft in diameter.

'A typical meteor comes from an object the size of a grain of sand,' said Gareth Williams of the Minor Planet Centre. 'This meteor will be a real humdinger in comparison.'

It was expected to be visible from eastern Africa and to evaporate over Sudan, the scientists said.

”

“I thought the sky was falling due to the crash in the economy. heh heh

I wonder if any news channels got some footage of the asteriod entering earth?”

“Well, folks had some lead time to get into the general area.   Someone would just have to get lucky and be in the right place to get some footage.

I was thinking.... it's really Superman's flaming baby carriage coming in for a landing (it missed the cornfield outside of Smallville this time),   LOL   He doesn't usually fix financial meltdowns, though....

OR.....   It could be a Sign from Above that Somebody is not happy with the a-holes in Khartoum.  

”

“
Predicted meteor may have been sighted

A large meteor reportedly was sighted last night by a KLM airlines pilot near the time and place predicted by astronomers hours earlier. It was the first time astronomers have ever identified an Earth-bound space rock and predicted its arrival. (See previous post.)

Here's the report, from an online rumor network for professional pilots:

"The following potentially confirming report comes from Jacob Kuiper, General Aviation meteorologist at the National Weather Service in the Netherlands: "Half an hour before the predicted impact of asteroid 2008 TC3, I informed an official of Air-France-KLM at Amsterdam airport about the possibility that crews of their airliners in the vicinity of impact would have a chance to see a fireball. And it was a success! I have received confirmation that a KLM airliner, roughly 750 nautical miles southwest of the predicted atmospheric impact position, has observed a short flash just before the expected impact time 0246 UTC. Because of the distance it was not a very large phenomenon, but still a confirmation that some bright meteor has been seen in the predicted direction."


Another pilot reported the following:

"Yes, I saw it from over central Europe - a bigger brighter trail than the usual shooting star, terminated by an explosion. All over in about a second, but definitely an unusual event."

Here's more from Spaceweather.com And here's a time-exposure image of the asteroid taken yesterday just hours before it reached Earth.

Posted by Frank Roylance on October 7, 2008 7:27 AM


And the guy's name is KUIPER?     nah.....   LOL

”

“y o y didn't the media report this ordinary event?”

“Quit spamming the forum, thirdtroll.”

“Alert the presses! The sun is expected to set tonight!”

“Why does Tilt always leave a pile of flapping wingers?”

“
Small Asteroid Predicted to Cause Brilliant Fireball over Northern Sudan

Don Yeomans
NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office
October 6, 2008

A very small, few-meter sized asteroid, designated 2008 TC3, was found Monday morning by the Catalina Sky Survey from their observatory near Tucson Arizona. Preliminary orbital computations by the Minor Planet Center suggested an atmospheric entry of this object within a day of discovery. JPL confirmed that an atmospheric impact will very likely occur during early morning twilight over northern Sudan, north-eastern Africa, at 2:46 UT Tuesday morning. The fireball, which could be brilliant, will travel west to east (from azimuth = 281 degrees) at a relative atmospheric impact velocity of 12.8 km/s and arrive at a very low angle (19 degrees) to the local horizon. It is very unlikely that any sizable fragments will survive passage through the Earth's atmosphere.

Objects of this size would be expected to enter the Earth's atmosphere every few months on average but this is the first time such an event has been predicted ahead of time.

Update - 6:45 PM PDT (1 hour prior to atmospheric entry)

Since its discovery barely a day ago, 2008 TC3 has been observed extensively by astronomers around the world, and as a result, our orbit predictions have become very precise. We estimate that this object will enter the Earth's atmosphere at around 2:45:28 UTC and reach maximum deceleration at around 2:45:54 UTC. These times are uncertain by +/- 15 seconds or so. The time at which any fragments might reach the ground depends a great deal on the physical properties of the object, but should be around 2:46:20 UTC +/- 40 seconds.

”

“...wow!!...thanks tilt for keeping us informed!!!”

“very nothing”

“It's amazing how they can pinpoint the timing if the have enough quality observations.”

“






”

“Aliens?”

“The images are links.

or...

Scroll up ---- Reset Date Range to include October 6.”