Wake-up call or omen? Three ‘near’ misses in one weekend

March 11, 2013 – SPACE - An asteroid as big as a city block shot relatively close past Earth at the weekend. Discovered just six days ago, the 140m Asteroid 2013 ET passed about 966,000 km from Earth on Saturday. That is about 2.5 times as far as the moon, fairly close on a cosmic yardstick. “The scary part of this one is that it is something we didn’t even know about,” Patrick Paolucci, president of Slooh Space Camera, said during a webcast featuring live images of the asteroid from a telescope in the Canary Islands. Moving at a speed of about 41,843 km/h, the asteroid could have wiped out a large city if it had hit Earth, added Slooh telescope engineer Paul Cox. Asteroid 2013 ET is nearly eight times larger than the bus-sized asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia last month, injuring 1500 people. The force of the explosion, equivalent to about 440 kilotons of dynamite, created a shock wave that shattered windows and damaged buildings. Later that day, a small asteroid, known as DA14, passed about 27,680 km from Earth, closer than the orbiting networks of communications and weather satellites. “One of the reasons we’re finding more of these objects is that there are more people looking,” Cox said. Two other small asteroids, both about the size of the Russian meteor, were in Earth’s neighborhood at the weekend. Asteroid 2013 EC 20 passed just 48,28 km away on Saturday, said Cox. Yesterday, Asteroid 2013 EN 20 flew about 449,007 km away from Earth. “We know the solar system is a busy place,” said Cox. “We’re not sitting here on our pale-blue dot on our own in nice safety. This should be a wake-up call to governments.” The US Congress has asked NASA to find and track all near-Earth objects of 1km or larger in diameter. NASA estimates about 95% have been identified. But only about 10% of smaller asteroids have been discovered, it says. The effort is intended to give scientists and engineers as much time as possible to learn if an asteroid or comet is on a collision course with Earth, in hopes of sending up a spacecraft or taking other measures to avert catastrophe. About 100 tons of material from space hits Earth every day. Astronomers expect an object about the size of the Russian meteor to strike about every 100 years. -Time Live http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/21573137/four-asteroids-buzz-earth-in-single-week#axzz2NFucAJQb

Object Name Apporach Date Left AU Distance LD Distance Estimated Diameter* Relative Velocity

(2009 SC15) 12th March 2013 0 day(s) 0.0815 31.7 130 m - 300 m 4.83 km/s 17388 km/h

(2012 SX49) 12th March 2013 0 day(s) 0.1470 57.2 15 m - 34 m 4.56 km/s 16416 km/h

(2009 SC15) 12th March 2013 0 day(s) 0.0815 31.7 130 m - 300 m 4.83 km/s 17388 km/h

(2012 SX49) 12th March 2013 0 day(s) 0.1470 57.2 15 m - 34 m 4.56 km/s 16416 km/h

(2005 ES70) 13th March 2013 1 day(s) 0.0569 22.1 50 m - 110 m 12.06 km/s 43416 km/h

(2013 CW35) 14th March 2013 2 day(s) 0.1744 67.9 180 m - 400 m 5.25 km/s 18900 km/h

(2013 EQ) 14th March 2013 2 day(s) 0.1172 45.6 45 m - 100 m 6.67 km/s 24012 km/h

(2013 DG) 15th March 2013 3 day(s) 0.0607 23.6 43 m - 96 m 6.89 km/s 24804 km/h

(2007 EO88) 17th March 2013 5 day(s) 0.0114 4.4 14 m - 31 m 10.65 km/s 38340 km/h

(2012 VO6) 17th March 2013 5 day(s) 0.1077 41.9 150 m - 340 m 12.66 km/s 45576 km/h

(2013 EA) 17th March 2013 5 day(s) 0.0761 29.6 99 m - 220 m 7.91 km/s 28476 km/h

(2005 XY4) 19th March 2013 7 day(s) 0.1071 41.7 53 m - 120 m 22.75 km/s 81900 km/h

(2010 SE) 19th March 2013 7 day(s) 0.0732 28.5 35 m - 79 m 13.16 km/s 47376 km/h

(2008 EQ7) 19th March 2013 7 day(s) 0.1830 71.2 80 m - 180 m 2.68 km/s 9648 km/h

(2002 JW15) 19th March 2013 7 day(s) 0.1560 60.7 270 m - 600 m 8.18 km/s 29448 km/h

(2006 GX2) 19th March 2013 7 day(s) 0.0960 37.4 190 m - 420 m 12.85 km/s 46260 km/h

7888 (1993 UC) 19th March 2013 7 day(s) 0.1260 49.0 2.3 km - 5.2 km 21.88 km/s 78768 km/h

325102 (2008 EY5) 19th March 2013 7 day(s) 0.0832 32.4 250 m - 570 m 12.27 km/s 44172 km/h

(2011 EW16) 20th March 2013 8 day(s) 0.1770 68.9 71 m - 160 m 13.79 km/s 49644 km/h

(2012 FK15) 21st March 2013 9 day(s) 0.0819 31.9 13 m - 30 m 12.89 km/s 46404 km/h

(2003 FY6) 22nd March 2013 10 day(s) 0.0539 21.0 90 m - 200 m 13.25 km/s 47700 km/h

(2012 FM35) 22nd March 2013 10 day(s) 0.0887 34.5 9.9 m - 22 m 5.81 km/s 20916 km/h

(2008 SE85) 24th March 2013 12 day(s) 0.1018 39.6 330 m - 730 m 22.70 km/s 81720 km/h

(2005 EF) 25th March 2013 13 day(s) 0.1774 69.0 200 m - 450 m 11.60 km/s 41760 km/h

(2006 KY86) 26th March 2013 14 day(s) 0.1941 75.6 320 m - 710 m 12.96 km/s 46656 km/h

96315 (1997 AP10) 27th March 2013 15 day(s) 0.1178 45.9 1.1 km - 2.5 km 19.68 km/s 70848 km/h

350462 (1998 KG3) 28th March 2013 16 day(s) 0.1294 50.4 95 m - 210 m 3.08 km/s 11088 km/h

(2007 UH) 28th March 2013 16 day(s) 0.1977 77.0 110 m - 240 m 10.08 km/s 36288 km/h

4034 Vishnu 31st March 2013 19 day(s) 0.1528 59.5 420 m 12.14 km/s 43704 km/h

(2012 EH5) 31st March 2013 19 day(s) 0.1539 59.9 38 m - 84 m 8.73 km/s 31428 km/h

(2011 EM11) 01st April 2013 20 day(s) 0.1919 74.7 32 m - 72 m 8.09 km/s 29124 km/h

(2005 TS15) 06th April 2013 25 day(s) 0.0391 15.2 170 m - 380 m 20.61 km/s 74196 km/h

(2012 XO111) 08th April 2013 27 day(s) 0.1965 76.5 160 m - 360 m 12.38 km/s 44568 km/h

(2002 TR190) 09th April 2013 28 day(s) 0.1115 43.4 380 m - 840 m 13.96 km/s 50256 km/h

(2012 VH5) 10th April 2013 29 day(s) 0.1958 76.2 83 m - 190 m 9.03 km/s 32508 km/h