Comments on: An asteroid that was discovered only four days before it flew by the Earth on June 14 has turned out to be much bigger than first thought. https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/an-asteroid-that-was-discovered-only-four-days-before-it-flew-by-the-earth-on-june-14-has-turned-out-to-be-much-bigger-than-first-thought/ Sat, 23 Jun 2012 05:38:33 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Blair Ivey https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/an-asteroid-that-was-discovered-only-four-days-before-it-flew-by-the-earth-on-june-14-has-turned-out-to-be-much-bigger-than-first-thought/#comment-53613 Sat, 23 Jun 2012 05:38:33 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=17986#comment-53613 Over at the handy-dandy Earth Impact Effects Program site (http://impact.ese.ic.ac.uk/ImpactEffects/), we find that for a 1 km diameter rock and making reasonable assumptions (porous rock asteroid hitting the atmosphere at 17 km/s at a 45 degree angle and impacting into sedimentary rock), anyone closer than 150 miles from the impact point is going to have a very bad day, and 150 miles is about the limit of survivability if you’re caught in the open. Not to see a rock that size until four days prior to closest approach is more than a little disconcerting.

If anyone visits the site, I recommend reading the .pdf file on the assumptions and background of the program. It’s quite interesting.

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