Watching asteroids: a new small near miss (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, April 12, 2024, 19:15 (17 days ago) @ David Turell

Car size just yesterday :

https://www.livescience.com/space/asteroids/car-size-asteroid-discovered-2-days-ago-fli...

"An asteroid discovered Tuesday (April 9) made an extremely close, but harmless, pass by planet Earth today (April 11).

"Asteroid 2024 GJ2 is roughly the size of a car and, since its discovery this week, astronomers calculated that the space rock would graze by Earth at a mere 12-thousand-mile (19.3-thousand-kilometer) distance — that's just three percent the distance between the Earth and the moon. 2024 GJ2 measures between 2.5 and 5 meters (8.2 and 16 feet), according to the European Space Agency (ESA). This means it's an asteroid with a weight-class that would have burned up in Earth's atmosphere, if its orbit happened to intersect ours more directly.

"Astronomers believe the asteroid's closest approach distance to Earth occurred at 2:28:42 p.m. EDT (18:28:42 GMT) on Thursday, at a distance of 7,641 miles (12,298 kilometers)."

Comment: discovery two days earlier. Is that enough time to send up a diverting rocket? The asteroid is tiny compared to Chicxulub, but if one of this size hits, the locality won't enjoy it.