Near Miss Asteroid Spotted by Hawaii Obeservatory

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

A few days ago a NASA funded observatory in Hawaii spotted an asteroid approaching Earth. Fortunately, as you know because you are reading this, it missed. Too bad there aren't even larger telescopes available, that could detect these objects sooner. An asteroid deflection scheme is in the works and the farther away the object, the better the chance it might divert a potential threat away from Earth.

A large space rock came fairly close to Earth on Sunday night. Astronomers knew it wasn't going to hit Earth, thanks in part to a new tool NASA is developing for detecting potentially dangerous asteroids.

The rock that whizzed past Earth tonight was discovered on the night of Oct. 25-26 by the NASA-funded Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) on Maui, Hawaii.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2...g-asteroid

I saw the tracks immediately - they swirled back & forth across the shuffled sand of the path. They seemed the design of indecision, but I am not sure. Mary Oliver

[Ino]

Here's a place to monitor them if they are known;
http://spaceweather.com/

near the bottom

Once here- some have a report-lots of detailed info here click around;
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/fireball/

We're roughly located at 155W and 20 N

I love fireballs as long as they're not too close and it's like one of those things- probably just a matter of time before we (the earth) gets hit. Many times they are detected very close and with not much time until they're here.

We have had some close calls here.

[TomK]

It's fair to point out that although Pan-STARRS is used to detect and monitor near-Earth asteroids, the same telescope can also be used to make other astronomical discoveries. This just made the news today:

"Hypervariable galactic nuclei"

http://phys.org/news/2016-10-hypervariab...uclei.html

These are extremely distant galaxies so the observations are looking back billions of years, but to have whole galaxies change brightness so quickly is hard to understand. I like the idea of microlensing, but since these galaxies, at the time we can observe them, are still quite young, then other explanations can't be ruled out, such as objects being swallowed by a massive black hole.

[Lee M-S]

Every time I see the subject line, I think it's about the "Miss Asteroid" beauty pageant. Just sayin'

><(((*< ... ><(("< ... ><('< ... >o>

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

I think it's about the "Miss Asteroid" beauty pageant.

It did look like another contestant from the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter was a shoe-in for the next pageant, but the New Horizons spacecraft still has time to locate contenders for the crown from the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune. Who knows what it may find in that uncharted territory? Something unique, a one-of-a-kind entrant the judge's panel has never seen before? Any contestant from the far distant Kuiper Belt may also have an edge in the contest, as rumor has it certain judges give higher scores to participants guaranteed to stay far, far away from planet Earth. With extra points for being "outgoing" and therefore unlikely to destroy all life on Earth, they'll have a good chance at winning "Miss Congeniality" if not the "Miss Asteroid" title itself.

I saw the tracks immediately - they swirled back & forth across the shuffled sand of the path. They seemed the design of indecision, but I am not sure. Mary Oliver