It was a bright speck in the night. On April 27, something caught the eyes of astronomers poring through data gathered by the Pan-STARRS Observatory in Hawaii: a previously unknown space rock , and one that was very, very close to Earth.
Coincidentally, the alert came as a rather large asteroid ( called 1998 OR2 ) was making its closest approach to Earth. That space rock, which was discovered decades ago, is about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) wide. On April 28, it flew by Earth at a range of about 3.9 million miles (6.3 million km), about 16 times the distance from Earth to the moon. That distance is pretty bland for Earth flybys; it was the asteroid's size that made the event intriguing.
In case you are keeping track:
The hunt for asteroid impacts on the moon heats up with new observatory | Space
Because such impacts offer valuable information about Earth's own barrage of space rocks, scientists have established programs that look for the brief bright flashes on the moon that represent lunar impacts. A new such telescope recently began operations, confirming observations of another telescope's 100th impact flash detection.
Having multiple eyes on the moon is valuable for scientists because other phenomena, like satellites passing overhead , can produce similar flashes in the data. But two observatories at different locations won't simultaneously see the same satellite: if both catch the same lunar flash at the same time, it's definitely real data.
Largest Impact Event in Recorded History May Have Been An Iron Asteroid That Never Actually Hit
The largest impact event in recorded history may have been caused by the shock waves generated by an iron asteroid that entered the Earth's atmosphere at a shallow angle before heading back into space, a team of Russian scientists have proposed.
The researchers say that the massive explosion associated with the event may not not have been caused by a space object that fell towards the ground, as is generally believed, potentially explaining the almost total absence of meteorite fragments on the Earth's surface, according to a study published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society .
Most Explosive Meteor Impact: 1908 Tunguska Explosion Caused by Iron Asteroid That Entered Earth
An asteroid skimmed the Earth at a low altitude above Siberia in June 30, 1908, causing an explosion that was 2,150 square kilometers (km2) wide.
Known as the Tunguska event, it was the "most explosive meteor impact on record," according to the Daily Mail . It produced a shockwave that flattened over 80 million trees, which set the Russian forest alight.
The Daily Mail said the explosion was so strong that "Air waves from the blast were detected as far away as the UK and Washington DC in the US, as well as Germany, Denmark, Croatia, and Indonesia."
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Tunguska event was caused by an asteroid that bounced back to space | Daily Mail Online
Russian scientists suggest the mysterious 'Tunguska event' explosion of 1908 was caused by an iron asteroid that entered the Earth's atmosphere and then bounced back into space.
The flying asteroid is thought to have skimmed the planet at a low altitude above Siberia, causing an explosion that flattened around 80 million trees over an area of 830 square miles (2,150km2).
The event on the morning of June 30, 1908, which is described as the most explosive meteor impact on record, produced a shock wave that set the snowy Russian forest alight.
Has the Sun captured dozens of asteroids from another star? Wellll… - India Gone Viral
If true, it’s a very big deal! We’d have samples of objects born around other stars just waiting for us to go and take a look at them. That’s terribly exciting. I’ve seen it getting covered on quite a few news sites, too.
The problem is that, for a small set of them — just 19 — no one knows how they got there. The ones in this group have weird orbits that are highly inclined to the plane of the solar system, and some of them even orbit the Sun retrograde (backward relative to the direction the planets revolve). Either they always had orbits like that, or they somehow started off with normal orbits and got kicked into those weird configurations by getting too close to a planet, which warped their paths.
Happening on Twitter
Tiny asteroid's super-close Earth flyby shows planetary protection in action, scientists say https://t.co/WE1wD1Xz9j https://t.co/1IfTEsTArH SPACEdotcom (from NYC) Tue May 05 18:37:35 +0000 2020
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