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Heliumes

In case if anyone want to follow the current trajectory: [https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/asteroids/#/2024\_mk](https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/asteroids/#/2024_mk) NASA has really cool public tools that somehow not many people know about


whatawitch5

So it’s going to pass closer to Earth (295K kilometers) than the moon (384K kilometers). Nice.


Drakayne

295k kilometers is considered close haha (i know in space it is close)


OhMySatanHarderPlz

I have triple that on my subaru's odometer bro! What a coincidence that I call my car "the comet" (well, "the puss comet" but it's close enough)


aeric67

Switch it to Apophis and go to Apr 13, 2029 and see what a close shave looks like.


VanceKelley

>On 13 April 2029 Apophis will pass as close as 30,600 kilometers (19,000 miles) above the Earth. If you’re superstitious, that's on a Friday the 13th. https://www.planetary.org/articles/will-apophis-hit-earth That's closer than geosynchronous satellites orbit (~36,000 km).


blueconlan

Speaking of superstitions. The name of the asteroid is the Greek name for the Ancient Egyptian concept of anti- life. Of the void that consumes and destroys. So that’s fun.


ImportantObjective45

I wanted to name it freeze pop.


guybuddypalchief

It can always be freeze pop in your heart


PDP83

Also, superstitious is that April 13, 2029, is a Friday.


mt-beefcake

You tellin me, I got to work a whole work week just to get Armageddoned at the start of a weekend! I'm cashing in my vacation days that week.


VagrantShadow

Not even the end of the world will stop a work week. Profits must be made, even in the wake of Armageddon.


OnlyBlueNoMatterWho

Pffft, I've been closer to the Earth than that.


TrolliusJKingIIIEsq

> If you’re superstitious, that's on a Friday the 13th. What day/date is it if we're not superstitious?


ElevatedGrape

Yeah, I’m just a little stitious.


DannyTorrancesFinger

Wednesday the 2nd.


Soopafien

In September.


DannyTorrancesFinger

Calm down, Satan.


lickingthelips

Depends on where in the world you’ll be at that time


mauore11

Do you think that IF they knew it would hit, would they say it? or just tell us it would be a near miss to avoid panic?


Coolegespam

Yes. Fist, there's no way to hide something that big. Too many people involved most of them civilians at observatories. Ultimately the mathematics of orbital motion are known and simple enough for anyone to verify. It would be impossible to keep it secret. That said, I could see them maybe keeping it under-wraps for a few weeks to a couple of months while a plan was drafted. Apophis specifically isn't a planet killer. It would cause catastrophic, but local damage, and significant regional damage as well. But globally, there'd be some dimming, but nothing worse than what we've done to the place. We'd have a good idea of roughly where it would impact so measures could be put in place to evacuate the impact site. Particularly since we have about 5 years, it would be a viable option.


mouldyrumble

If it was going to hit America, about a third of the population would say that it’s bullshit and refuse to evacuate.


fearedfurnacefighter

Go on…


AssInspectorGadget

If it hit moscow i would start believing in god


Jintokunogekido

Better start training those oil drillers now.


Roger_Cockfoster

Holy shit, that's close! That's only three times further away than a *commercial airliner* flies. EDIT: Scratch that, my math is *way* off, by a factor of 1,000! 10k km looks a lot like 10km


VanceKelley

Airliners cruise at about 10km above the earth.


Roger_Cockfoster

Haha, I thought there was an extra "k" in there when I looked it up.


CFCkyle

I do love me a flight on Orbit Airlines. Excellent view, although the air does get a bit stuffy at times.


Loply97

Thank god the DART mission was a success so we have some reassurance we can protect ourselves from that mf.


pv1rk23

I’m going to the beach today so I’ll have good seats to worlds end either way


fenwoods

Holy smokes!!


Lorric71

That is indeed pretty cool.


LawBaine

Even cooler is their free API’s for developers to create their own passion projects with the incredible Near Orbit observation data on asteroids! I used the data for asteroids they have available to create a 3D trajectory visualizer and have used it for most of my technical interviews in the last few years and it is always a crowd pleaser! You can find their APIs here: https://api.nasa.gov


darthkaran

Appreciate the link, and project idea!


made-of-questions

So interesting to see the deflection in the trajectory once it got close to Earth. I'm guessing it's not on a regular orbit this close to Earth and that's why we didn't know about it previously.


crusty54

Looks like it’s getting the ol’ gravity slingshot.


NuancedSpeaking

It has tracking since 1989 that's insane. The last time this asteroid got close to Earth was in 2014.


buzzsawjoe

The headline article here states it was \[first\] detected June 16, two weeks ago.


FlaccidArrow

Holy shit, that's really fuckin cool


Setting-Solid

Add some butter and chives and cheese and that’s a tasty tatty.


flounderpots

Makes earth into a bagel!!


swallowing_bees

Eyes is so dope


SenseisSifu

That's amazing. Thanks for sharing


tmac2go

Does anyone know if the graphic is from telescopes? Or so computer generated?


yesmilady

That is super cool


Searchlights

The fact that we don't find out these are passing until right before they do demonstrates how screwed we would be in the event of a major strike


LSDummy

Getting kerbal space program flashbacks


wine_and_dying

Wonder if sports betting has asteroid impacts yet.


DiscipleOfYeshua

I’m sure there’s some pub in Australia and/or England that will give you 1:125


HapticRecce

Will you be able ro collect though?


DiscipleOfYeshua

Depends which side you bet on


Quasi_is_Eternal

*Somber news report of Earth's impending doom* This guy: "YES! I won $1000! wait..."


23564987956

Sorry to interrupt your just kill us circle jerk but: Asteroid 2024 MK, discovered just two weeks ago, will make a close approach to Earth on Saturday, coming within 294,707 kilometers of our planet About 160 meters in diameter, kind of nice that they’re able to detect something that small


hatwobbleTayne

160 meters… So people can actually understand, how many Giraffes is that?


autist_zombie_savant

It’s approximately a one 160m giraffe sized asteroid.


helel_8

Look, just tell me how many bananas that is


tsukaimeLoL

one 160m-banana-sized asteroid, are you even paying attention to class?


tokuturfey

It’s a little under 900 bananas in diameter.


SmoothWD40

Or alternatively, about a 500ft sized giraffe.


TeddyTwoShoes

For a visual, that’s very roughly the size of one circle on a cloverleaf off-ramp, aka the circle off ramp from highways. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partial_cloverleaf_interchange


absentbird

Thank you. Americans struggle to understand the metric system, but are fluent in highways.


fwambo42

I guess, but as you said, they discovered it two weeks ago. If it was bigger and on an impact course, there'd be nothing we could do about it.


ObsessiveCompulsionz

Um wrong, I’d catch it, idiot


Alternative_Fee_4649

Dwight?


Koala_eiO

If it was bigger, it would be detected earlier.


23564987956

Oh? I thought DART was a proof of concept to show we could alter paths enough by just hitting smaller asteroids with shit to put it a tiny bit off course, 2 weeks is a lot of time


timmytommy2

2 weeks is an impossibly short amount of time to discover an object, track and calculate the exact orbit, plan out a trajectory, assemble a mission, prepare and launch a payload, and successfully impact a quickly closing in object with anything even remotely resembling today’s capabilities.  The idea of DART is nudge an asteroid that we discover with a high certainty of impact years down the road. 


Some_Box_5357

That’s 500 feet. Are you insinuating that wouldn’t cause people to die?


Stevev213

We really could all be a week from death from a random asteroid at any second


MuzzledScreaming

Don't tempt me with a slightly better time than we're currently having.


greenearrow

I’d vote for the asteroid as long as it was a global extinction level event. I don’t want to live in a post-apocalyptic world anymore than I want to live in this one.


shaneh445

stability and central/big authority are the only things keeping many of us from being horrifically medieval as fuck IMO


StoryAboutABridge

Yep. Government's monopolization of violence is humanity's greatest achievement.


healthywealthyhappy8

I don’t mind dying as long as everyone else goes with me.


Regalzack

Tell me you are a politician without telling me you are a politician.


sarcasmbot123

“Some of you may die. But that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.”


thorofasgard

"This is so embarrassing, I wish everyone else was dead." -Bender


Eatpineapplenow

Vlad, get off our internet


Donkey__Balls

/r/GiantMeteor2024


Blazeur242

comment of the day right here


NoProbLlama18

For real. Can we just get smoked by one already? I’m so tired…


PriestsMolestKids

I feel like 90% of the people saying that to be edgy on reddit would be on their knees crying and blubbering and praying to the god they always said didn't exist if the end was actually facing them.


ProMikeZagurski

As soon as there's a Gatorade and Doritos shortage, they'll be cursing the astroid.


Mango_Tango_725

Honestly if one big enough to destroy life was forecasted to hit earth, I’d probably stop caring about everything. If there’s a god, they’re the one sending the asteroid to kill us to begin with. There’s not much else to do but to live to the fullest while there’s time. If they want us to cry in agony to divert the asteroid that they created, I’m not sure what that says about god. Not much good probably.


Donkey__Balls

Well you’re no fun.


TheKingOfSpores

All jokes aside, the thought does make me feel better than what we are currently dealing with.


EmbarrassedHelp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_Terrestrial-impact_Last_Alert_System Current detection gives us a couple hours to a couple weeks for town killer and city killer asteroids. So pay attention to your emergency alerts and you'll likely survive.


schuettais

Nah, you’ll just die a little more informed. 😅


strigonian

If you can't evacuate your city with a week's notice, I don't know what to tell you.


Temporal_Somnium

If you have a week notice I think you can leave the town


OverallComplexities

Steven hawking devoted his life to trying to tell us that, people called him a Debbie downer


Spreckles450

He really should have stood up for himself.


DanBalls

Yeah, he needs to make his voice heard.


Smoochin-out

Yowzaaa


TheOtherWhiteCastle

Can’t sing, can’t dance, tells people they could be killed at any moment by something out of their control? Stephen Hawking sounds like he would be terrible at parties. No wonder the time travelers didn’t show up.


QuestOfTheSun

An interstellar asteroid coming from our blind spot is a nightmare scenario I try not to think about.


radome9

Oh yeah, asteroids from the solar system have typical impact speeds of 17 km/s. Comets 52 km/s. There's basically no upper limit to the speed of interstellar objects.


culingerai

Shush Marcos......


derangedplague

Is that an Expanse reference?


iforgotmymittens

Do it, you sky bitch. End us.


2kWik

finally the end of social media


findhumorinlife

…. And corrupt politicians and corporate CEOs and SCOTUS.


CarPhoneRonnie

at any second it’s a week away ?


DiscipleOfYeshua

As in, we tend to find them about a week before they reach us; the news that you’ve got a week left could come any second.


Fast_Raven

\*Clip of the old guy inside the oil tanker from Water World\*


Standard_Lack_7178

If they even decide to tell us


Inspect1234

Some of them: 1.7km in diameter travelling at 27km/s. 👀


DiscipleOfYeshua

Well, you see, they’re like squirrels, some of them asteroids, so darn hard to spot and then boom! Like lightning they grab the bag of peanuts and run off with it or poke a hole right through your planet taking the pizza delivery guy _and_ his scooter on their interstellar journey and then what are you supposed to do?


-Hyperactive-Sloth-

Meteor 2024 - A movement we can all get in front of.


ForceRich9524

Don’t do that, don’t give me hope.


thegooniegodard

Better than another 4 years with the Treasonous Tangerine.


Lost_Organizations

I fucking wish


Standard_Lack_7178

You fucking wish all life on the planet would end? Bro you need help


Nhajit

What a tease


thefunkybassist

Humans: what a boring weekend Asteroid: hold my trajectory


captainbruisin

Stay on target


Senior-Place7697

I don’t know why articles like this can never bother to tell us the time this is going to happen. I accepted all cookies for this . There is such a thing as the universal time. Why even tell us the day without the time ?


buzzsawjoe

NASA db sez: 13:49, to an accuracy of less than one minute. I guess that's UTC. It's now 23:00 UTC, so it passed closest to earth about 11 hours ago. This thing is about 200 yards in diameter, at a distance of about 90% of the distance to the moon. So if you could see a bean 10 miles away, you could see this.


braddad425

Sometimes I have a hard time finding the bean when it's right in front of my face


3sheetz

Because it was just discovered and there a lot of things that go into calculating it's trajectory. Everything we know about it or anything like it is just a scientific estimate. You can't just take a look at an asteroid and be like, yep, gonna be visible at 6:43 p.m. EST.


Senior-Place7697

Then how am I gonna know the moment to hold my breath and tight my but?


Bored_Gamer73

I'm waiting for the newly discovered asteroid to hit earth Saturday headline.


WestSixtyFifth

They wouldn’t tell us if it were apocalyptic level


sammyasher

I'm not convinced they would be able to keep it under wraps. The people who track and see these things are regular folks, scientists around the world, not tip-top-level-99 secret agents.


_CMDR_

Yes “they” would. Because the people doing the looking are normal people. Word would get out immediately.


SoManyEmail

Why wouldn't they? "There would be chaos!" So? Let there be chaos for a week. Who tf cares at that point?


AunMeLlevaLaConcha

Honestly? I want to die in peace, I don't want some random asshole breaking into my house and chopping off my head just because "it's the end of the world bruh, who tf cares at this point?"


ThrowawayObserver

If you want to die in peace and make sure some asshole doesn’t break into your place and have their way with you, it might be helpful to looking into getting a gun to protect yourself. They are the great equalizer after all.


BubsyFanboy

>**Asteroid 2024 MK, discovered just two weeks ago, will make a close approach to Earth on Saturday, coming within 294,707 kilometers of our planet, as reported by the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) on social media.** >This distance is nearly 70,000 kilometers closer than the Moon’s average distance from Earth. >According to the European Space Agency, the asteroid, which measures between 120 and 260 meters in diameter, was detected on June 16 through observations made at the South African Astronomical Observatory in Cape Town less than two weeks before its approach. >NASA researchers have indicated that asteroid 2024 MK previously passed by Earth a decade ago, at a distance five times greater, and went undetected by astronomers at the time. >Classified as a Near-Earth Object (NEO), the asteroid does not pose a threat to Earth. However, its late detection highlights the necessity for improved methods to identify asteroids that could potentially collide with our planet. >There are tens of thousands of known NEOs, discovered, cataloged, and tracked by specialized observational projects such as NEOWISE and Pan-STARRS (Panoramic Survey Telescope And Rapid Response System). >Among these objects, Potentially Hazardous Asteroids are of particular concern. These are asteroids that come within 0.05 astronomical units (19.5 lunar distances) and are large enough, with diameters greater than 140 meters, that their impact could cause significant regional damage. >Asteroid 2024 MK is the latest large object to pass near Earth this year. Earlier in the year, Bennu and Apophis made close approaches, and just last Thursday, asteroid 2011 UL21, measuring between 1.7 and 3.9 kilometers in diameter and traveling at 25.9 km/s, came within 6.6 million kilometers of Earth. >Source: TVP World, PAP


grandpalou420

It’s going to see the shit show going on here and say “uhhh uhhh not todayyyyy”


HankSteakfist

It watched the debate and didn't feel like making a Derp Impact.


JazzRider

This article fails to address the most important question….when?


Eledridan

Saturday.


JazzRider

I hope their spatial estimates are higher precision than the temporal ones!


GIGGLES708

DONT LOOK UP


Far_Out_6and_2

That was a great movie


ProgressBartender

Extinction level asteroid for President 2024. Just put us out of our misery already.


thatirishguyyyyy

Neat! Gonna go watch *Deep Impact* real quick.  E.L.E., baby. 


ChasyLainsJellyHatch

Can it pass by close enough to earth, just to hit Trump in the head (and then fly on harmlessly)?


Schedulator

When you're famous they let you get away with such things.


metaltastic

He'd find a way to dodge that as well


billytheskidd

If you can dodge an asteroid, you can dodge a ball!


reddtoomuch

Don’t stand so, don’t stand so close to me.


OldMork

I put my car in the garage, just in case it comes very near.


StarFinTech

Maybe those NASA Astronauts stuck because of Boeing can hitch a ride and slingshot themselves to Earth. Futurama maths say it’s possible.


Malezor1984

lol at all the sad emo-redditors who want the asteroid to kill humanity!


Rosencrown21

Yea, its both pathetic and worrying.


geddy

I’d say it’s more an indicator of the lack of hope the younger generation has for their future. That would be paralyzing for anyone.


TheWiseScrotum

Can it make a pit stop?


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NorMalware

False. NASA is conducting an exercise that IF an asteroid were to hit us in 2038, what would our impact-readiness look like. 2038 was selected as the date because that’s realistically how much of a warning we would have.


or_worse

According to my researches, an 800m impact would fuck shit up for a few hundred km, but definitely wouldn't be "the one". Admittedly, "research" here does not imply the relative certainty of rigor, etc.


Galifrae

Yeah I probably should’ve worded it differently. I meant “the one” to actually hit the Earth. Hopefully it hits the water or the desert but some of the possible points of impact are eye opening (for example, Washington, D.C.).


Acceptable-Grade-116

HUGE ASTEROID 2024


hal2142

Sorry can someone explain this to me, I thought they knew about all asteroids that may impact earth within a long time period? How does one just appear like this? Thank you


I_love_Hobbes

Do not have asteroid strike on my 2024 bingo card. Good thing it's going to miss.


DoubleBroadSwords

Can it fall on Mara Lago?


DNAgent007

Looks like Giant Asteroid is finally hitting the campaign trail.


Kratomite247

Wait…I was under the impression we already knew about every asteroid near and far from earth. But we just found this one two weeks ago and it’s passing by earth today?? Good god…


4x4Welder

There's some that aren't found until after they go by, and with Arecibo gone the ability to find NEOs is greatly diminished.


radome9

> I was under the impression we already knew about every asteroid near and far from earth What on Earth gave you that idea?


Kratomite247

I don’t actually know to be honest…I guess it was an assumption with how far advanced I “think” we are with satellites. But how would I know, I own a garage door installation company. It’s a very up and down business.


radome9

The best estimate I could find is that we know of [38% of near-earth asteroids larger than 140 metres.](https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/ad072e) An asteroid that size could leave a 2000-metre wide crater. Deaths in the millions if it hits a populated area. And we know of less than half of them.


Kratomite247

Thanks for the info!


m1raclemile

Is there any way we can convince it to change course and slam right into us instead?


itsmistyy

These asteroids need to stop edging and fucking hit us already.


Donkey__Balls

The way things are going part of me wishes it would just hit us and get it over with.


[deleted]

Cmon just get a little closer


TheEgonaut

Stop trying to kill us and just kill us please.


outsider4200

He must be going very fast because it still is Saturday :P


Alexander_Rover

The fact that we have not been hit by an asteroid in recent times is a miracle


JonnydieZwiebel

Not really, it's just statistics. A 50 meter asteroid hitting earth statistically happens every 200-300 years. A 1km asteroid every 500,000 years.


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sardoodledom_autism

Is this the asteroid that neil Tyson was talking about could come back around and hit us in 12 years if it catches a gravity assist ?


ihopeicanforgive

Can we see it with the naked eye


roboticfedora

Hope it's not Apophis!


schuettais

That’s 2029.


Flat-Environment1260

WAAAAAAAIT I haven’t told my crush I accidentally caught feelings. Also y’all cmon, read the article. “Classified as a Near-Earth Object (NEO), the asteroid does not pose a threat to Earth.”


TannyBoguss

TIL there is an asteroid named after Anne Frank


idosay

Comon asteroid!!!


Drewcifur27

Yeah but how big is it?


Rug-Inspector

The real question is: how big is it? If it’s more than three giraffes long, then we should be worrying about it.


DozerJKU

Ayo, we've got interstellar rockets to deflect or to reduce weight of these incoming asteroids, right? Right....?


Cultural-Accident-71

Are we able to see it or is it to small?