The largest of the asteroids, named 2021 KT1, is approximately 600 feet, about the size of the Seattle Space Needle and taller than the Washington Monument. However, scientists believe it could be as large as 1,049 feet, comparative in size to New York City's Chrysler Building.
The asteroid is classified by NASA as a " potentially hazardous object " because it is a near-Earth object that is larger than 492 feet, and passed within 4.6 million miles of Earth. For reference, the average distance between Earth and the moon is about 239,000 miles.
A 'Potentially Hazardous' Asteroid Just Soared Past Earth.
The reason why 2021 KT1 is news is that NASA estimates that it's between 492 feet/150 meters and ... [+] 1,082 feet/330 meters in diameter and it wasn't observed until late in May 2021 just a week before its closest pass.
2021 KT1 passed just a little closer than that, which technically makes it "potentially hazardous," but it's important to get this in context and grasp the size of our Earth-Moon system. The Moon is, on average, 238,855 miles/384,400 kilometers from Earth, so 2021 KT1 passed well beyond the orbit of our satellite. About 19 lunar distances from Earth, in fact.
Crypto Asteroid Destroys Banking Dinosaurs
I've had this Economist image on my desk for the past 7 days, and it's very likely to become my wallpaper this weekend when I finally toss the May 29 issue. I call it Crypto Asteroid Destroys Banking Dinosaurs. Their artwork is always strong and this one speaks to me. Notice the dollar signs in the necks of the dinosaurs.
Of course the piece itself is deeper than that. It's about whether crypto is a side show or a legit part of finance. It's mostly focused on Bitcoin, but notes in one critical line that Ethereum has a more compelling use case.
NASA Celebrates OSIRIS-REx's Perfect Departure Maneuver From Asteroid Bennu
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Mission engineers had planned to do a small thruster firing last week to ensure the spacecraft stays on the correct path back to Earth. But, the May 10 departure maneuver was calculated and executed so precisely, the mission team decided not to do a clean-up maneuver last week.
After nearly five years in space, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is on its way back to Earth with an abundance of rocks and dust from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
ESA Spacecraft to Rush Toward Asteroid to See How NASA Deflection Mission Went - autoevolution
Nasa spacecraft begins two-year trip home with asteroid rubble | Jersey Evening Post
Asteroid blast 'more powerful than Hiroshima' over sea 'almost triggered nuclear war' - Daily Star
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Some 60km above the earth's surface the small rock smashed into the upper atmosphere and broke into thousands of tiny fragments, none of which have ever been found.
When "Little Boy" detonated over Hiroshima it caused a reaction of 12-18 kilotonnes, while Nagasaki bomb "Fat Man" released energy equivalent to 18-23 kilotonnes.
Dinosaur-Destroying Asteroid Gave Rise to Modern Rainforests | Discover Magazine
The globe would never be the same again. Gone were the giant dinosaurs and large marine reptiles, as well as a great number of other vertebrates.
"The forest as we know it today, as it functions today, really began after the extinction reset the whole ecosystem and allowed flowering plants to take over," says Monica Carvalho, a botanist and paleobiologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the lead author of the study published recently in Science .
Asteroid alert: Space rock twins heading towards earth [details] - IBTimes India
It was on Tuesday that a potentially hazardous asteroid zoomed past earth. At the time of its close approach, this asteroid was almost 4.5 million miles away from the blue planet, and it did not pose any threat to human existence. And now, NASA has revealed that two other asteroids will zip past the earth this week.
The asteroid that zipped past the earth on Tuesday was 2021 KT1. This space rock was as large as 1,049 feet, and it was comparative in size to New York City's Chrysler Building. NASA considered this space rock as potentially hazardous, as it flew past the earth at a distance fewer than 4.6 million miles. It should be noted that the average distance between the earth and the moon is 2,39,000 miles.
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