Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Rock Coming By

For those of you with a clear sky, this article tells how to find the 800 foot asteroid that will be passing by only 1.4x the distance of the Moon tonight.

I've given up. Last night was wondrously clear (but too cold to be outside). Today, we're waiting for polar bears to migrate outside our windows. It has been snowing all day--not spectacularly hard, and you Michiganers and North Dakotans would probably say that this isn't really snow, since we don't need to exit through a second story window (as if we had one). But I can guarantee we won't be watching the big rock passing by.

By the way, if an 800 foot asteroid doesn't sound big to you, remember that the kinetic energy of an object is calculated from 1/2 x mass x velocity squared. I've read that the meteor that gouged out the Canyon Diablo crater in Arizona was about 100 feet across--and the hole is more than 4000 feet in diameter.

By the way, if you are ever in northern Arizona, make sure that you stop and visit. This is one of the few really important geologic features in the United States that is privately owned, and they do a good job of it.

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