400E-441-Carson's Pair

400E-441-Carson's Pair

My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Carson Fuls was observing, in the constellation Lynx, with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona , when within the space of only 35 minutes, he discovered two small space rocks well before they made very close approaches to Earth. 79 hours after Carson discovered the first, 2018 CB, this approximately 70 foot diameter space rock passed about 1/5 of the Moon's distance from us. Turns out that the second of Carson's duo, an approximately 50 foot diameter space rock got near us first, when 62 hours after Carson discovered 2018 CC, it came to less than 1/2 of the Moon's distance from the surface of planet Earth. Since we didn't have a large enough, properly equipped telescope to measure the pattern of colors each of Carson's discoveries reflects from the Sun we can only estimate their physical sizes and guess at their densities and chemical compositions. In any event, if either of these space rocks were to strike the Earth they would likely explode at an altitude about 100,000 feet above the Earth's surface, releasing the energy of tens of thousands of pounds of TNT, producing a spectacular light show. Both of Carson's discoveries could be similar to the space rock which exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia breaking windows, injuring nearly 1,500 people, and producing numerous fragments which made it to the ground. If either of Carson's discoveries had been on an impact trajectory with Earth, asteroid hunters would have had time to warn people in the effected area to stay away from doors and windows.

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918-Auroras from Space

918-Auroras from Space

The northern lights or Aurora Borealis have fascinated humans throughout the ages. Today aurora watching is a multimillion dollar industry in places like Alaska, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Green...

25 Syys 2min

407E-448-Two PHA's

407E-448-Two PHA's

The large dangerous asteroids that we don't know about are what keep asteroid hunters going to the telescope.

22 Syys 2min

917-Space Dust

917-Space Dust

As the Earth orbits the Sun at 18.5 mi/s it sweeps up about 100 tons of micrometeorites and space dust every day of which some 14 tons eventually makes it to the ground. You can even find some of thes...

18 Syys 2min

406E-447-Nuking An Asteroid

406E-447-Nuking An Asteroid

Tonight, even though the chances are extremely slim, an asteroid hunter could find a sizable asteroid on a collision course with planet Earth. If we have decades warning, the potential impactor's arri...

15 Syys 2min

916-Past Glory

916-Past Glory

When accurately recorded historical observations do not agree with what we what we see today it is often very rewarding to find out why. In modern telescopes we see Theta Eridani to a be pair separate...

11 Syys 2min

405E-446-Asteroid Homestead

405E-446-Asteroid Homestead

In the future one can envision a space mining family boarding a descendent of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launch Vehicle for a trip into low Earth orbit. A few hundred miles above the Earth's surface they...

8 Syys 2min

915-Raining Comets

915-Raining Comets

The comets we observe generally start out as icy dirty snowballs of frozen gases like water and frozen carbon dioxide in the Oort cloud. If recent scientific analysis is correct, we are now witnessing...

4 Syys 2min

404E-445-Not So Secret

404E-445-Not So Secret

A partnership of humans and computers will help to minimize the damage when asteroid hunters find a space rock with our number on it.

1 Syys 2min

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