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We’ll be able to see it on Friday the 13th of April, 2029, oh my that’s going to scare a lot of people!
“Apophis is noteworthy because of its extremely close approach to the Earth on Friday, April 13, 2029, when the 300 meter-sized asteroid will become visible to the unaided eye as it passes within the belt of communications satellites orbiting the Earth.”
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Don't worry, we have a magic mountain that will protect us. No asteroid has hit Hawaii in recorded history, therefore, Mauna Kea has protected us. It's simple logic.
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a magic mountain that will protect us
That magic mountain is protecting "the" Hawaiians; we just happen to be nearby.
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A very lucky Friday the 13th!
“A low-flying space rock set a record last Friday (appropriately, the 13th), when 2020 VT4 passed just under 400 kilometers (250 miles) over the Southern Pacific.
The asteroid was spotted by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii in the early morning hours of Saturday, November 14, just 15 hours after approach.”
https://www.sciencealert.com/earth-just-...d-asteroid
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Thanks for that, SBH. As the article you link says, this one came from our blind spot, plus it was small. But it does show that we are vulnerable to asteroids that come from that direction (i.e., from the direction of the sun). In this particular case, even if the asteroid had hit us, it wouldn't have been catastrophic as it was too small, but it would have been quite a light show to anyone nearby.
Asteroids of this size (around the size of a small bus) do hit the planet annually. Because most of the planet is uninhabited, they don't get noticed. The last one I'm aware of that entered the atmosphere and exploded over a populated area was over an unpronounceable city in Russia:
https://youtu.be/dpmXyJrs7iU
Downright frightening if you were there, I'm still in awe of some of the people taking the videos, they seemed to handle it so calmly, but this does happen more than you think it might except it occurs with no-one around.
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An object in space will pass by earth tomorrow, at a distance of only 31,605 miles, or about 5 round trip flights from Hawaii to the mainland. It may be part of the 1960's Surveyor 2 moon mission, a discarded rocket body, or because it's still the year 2020 - - who knows?
A mysterious object will fly past the Earth tomorrow and scientists still aren't quite sure what it is.
The object, dubbed 2020 SO by astronomers, will come within "just" 31,605 miles of our planet at 3:50 a.m. ET on December 1, according to NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS.)
This is an "extremely close," albeit safe, approach, with the object passing at a distance equivalent to around 13 percent of the average distance between our planet and the moon.
The object, which is estimated to measure between 15-33 feet across, was discovered by the Pan-STARRS survey based in Maui, Hawaii, on September 17, 2020.
"We are not sure it is an asteroid—that is, a natural body," Masi wrote on the Virtual Telescope Project website.
https://www.newsweek.com/mysterious-obje...id-1551202
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Good, I don’t need to move to a one story house!
Puna: Our roosters crow first!
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Thanks to one of the observatories on Mauna Kea, it’s been determined the near earth object (which wasn’t far out) was a flashback from the ‘60’s:
New Data Confirm 2020 SO to be the Upper Centaur Rocket Booster from the 1960’s
Using data collected at NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) and orbit analysis from the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, scientists have confirmed that Near-Earth Object (NEO) 2020 SO is, in fact, a 1960’s-Era Centaur rocket booster.
In addition to supporting a variety of NASA planetary missions, NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility on Maunakea on the Big Island of Hawaii is also used to determine the composition of near-Earth objects. University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-data-co...the-1960-s
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A new study looking at galaxy GN-z11 has determined it may be the farthest / oldest galaxy ever observed.
Quote:...Astronomers led by Nobunari Kashikawa, a professor in the department of astronomy at the University of Tokyo, embarked on a mission to find the universe’s most distant observable galaxy, to learn more about how it formed and when.
“From previous studies, the galaxy GN-z11 seems to be the farthest detectable galaxy from us, at 13.4 billion light-years, or 134 nonillion kilometers (that’s 134 followed by 30 zeros),” Kashikawa said in a statement. “But measuring and verifying such a distance is not an easy task.”
...
“We looked at ultraviolet light specifically, as that is the area of the electromagnetic spectrum we expected to find the redshifted chemical signatures,” Kashikawa said. “The Hubble Space Telescope detected the signature multiple times in the spectrum of GN-z11.”
“However,” he added, “even the Hubble cannot resolve ultraviolet emission lines to the degree we needed. So we turned to a more up-to-date ground-based spectrograph, an instrument to measure emission lines, called MOSFIRE, which is mounted to the Keck I telescope in Hawaii.”
https://www.scientificamerican.com/artic...-universe/
What I find particularly nice about this is the confirmation that ground based observatories are useful and will be useful to compliment off-earth telescopes.
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This is not a discovery by telescopes on Mauna Kea, but a review of UH’s Office of Mauna Kea Management’s success in carrying out the goals of the Comprehensive Management Plan, which was implemented in 2009. There were some positives, some negatives. There's a big thank you for road access and maintenance which allows the average person to reach the summit, and agreement that the cultural resources are well managed. But there's also dissatisfaction with the organizations who support those operations on a day to day basis, because they exist:
The evaluation conclusion found that material for Maunakea staff and visitors lacked context for the land’s significance to Native Hawaiians, that OMKM has been slow in achieving other goals such as the decommissioning of summit telescopes.
On the other hand, the report noted “We heard many comments that the cultural and natural resources on the state conservation lands on Maunakea are some of the best managed and protected lands in the entire state. The area is clear of trash, the invasive species are being removed not only by OMKM but volunteer groups, and the OMKM Rangers to ensure public safety on Maunakea.”
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/202...w-finds-2/
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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