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Yes, but that wasn't the premise now was it? I mean, most 50m asteroids don't even hit the earth so of course those aren't going to produce a notable wave either.
Then it wouldn't be a '50m asteroid' -- it would be much larger, with a 50m meteorite fragment surviving to hit the water. Any '50m asteroid' would airburst miles up, so by definition such an object could never hit the Pacific Ocean.
Anyway, if you're really interested in the effect of a 50m rock hitting the Pacific, believe it or not there are some physics nerds who want to make it easy for you to find out! Earth Impact Effects Program
NASA Television will provide commentary starting at 2 p.m. EST (11 a.m. PST) on Friday, Feb. 15, during the close, but safe, flyby of a small near-Earth asteroid named “2012 DA14.” NASA places a high priority on tracking asteroids and protecting our home planet from them. This flyby will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study a near-Earth object up close.
The half-hour broadcast from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., will incorporate real-time animation to show the location of the asteroid in relation to Earth, along with live or near real-time views of the asteroid from observatories in Australia, weather permitting.
At the time of its closest approach to Earth at approximately 2:25 p.m. EST (11:25 a.m. PST/ 19:25 UTC), the asteroid will be about 17,150 miles (27,600 kilometers) above Earth’s surface. Measuring approximately 50 meters wide, 2012 DA14 is about half the size of a football field
In addition to the commentary, near real-time imagery of the asteroid’s flyby before and after closest approach, made available to NASA by astronomers in Australia and Europe, weather permitting, will be streamed beginning at about noon EST (9 a.m. PST) and continuing through the afternoon at http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2
Also, a Ustream feed of the flyby from a telescope at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will be streamed for three hours starting at 9 p.m. EST (8 p.m. CST). To view the feed and ask researchers questions about the flyby via Twitter, visit http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-msfc
This object is estiamted at 10 tons, which would be just a few feet in diameter. An object so small would never be seen be ground-based telescopes, and would likely be caught on radar far too late to do anything but say, "Hey, what's that on the rada-- ... whoa, check out that meteor out the window!".
Do you think the two incidents (the Russian meteor and the larger meteor coming close to the earth today) are related?
They're saying that this meteor shower or strike isn't related to the meteor that's going to pass so close to the earth later today. With so much attention "to the skies" lately due to the one set for later today, I wonder how this event in Russia was overlooked? And it just seems odd that the two events supposedly aren't related. I mean, I am not a scientist and I'm not even trying to be one - the coincidence really just does seem very odd.
I do not think its a coincidence. I'm just a tad spooked by this.
There's an asteroid the size of a football field that will be passing earth beneath the orbit of a lot of satellites. Can you imagine what would happen if that thing impacted earth?
I have a hard time believing an asteroid of that size can get that close to satellites and the Earth and not hit anything.
NASA Television will provide commentary starting at 2 p.m. EST (11 a.m. PST) on Friday, Feb. 15, during the close, but safe, flyby of a small near-Earth asteroid named “2012 DA14.” NASA places a high priority on tracking asteroids and protecting our home planet from them. This flyby will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study a near-Earth object up close.
The half-hour broadcast from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., will incorporate real-time animation to show the location of the asteroid in relation to Earth, along with live or near real-time views of the asteroid from observatories in Australia, weather permitting.
At the time of its closest approach to Earth at approximately 2:25 p.m. EST (11:25 a.m. PST/ 19:25 UTC), the asteroid will be about 17,150 miles (27,600 kilometers) above Earth’s surface. Measuring approximately 50 meters wide, 2012 DA14 is about half the size of a football field
In addition to the commentary, near real-time imagery of the asteroid’s flyby before and after closest approach, made available to NASA by astronomers in Australia and Europe, weather permitting, will be streamed beginning at about noon EST (9 a.m. PST) and continuing through the afternoon at http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2
Also, a Ustream feed of the flyby from a telescope at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will be streamed for three hours starting at 9 p.m. EST (8 p.m. CST). To view the feed and ask researchers questions about the flyby via Twitter, visit http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-msfc
Dang it. You shouldn't have told me all this. I'm supposed to work on the taxes today and now I'm going to be glued to the Ipad. Being a science nerd is so hard.
I'd be curious what sort of tsunami wave heights you'd get in places like Japan and the west coast if a 50m asteroid hit out in the middle of the pacific.
I've seen computer projections of an asteroid of 1km size hitting in the atlantic and 99% of the people on the east coast are dead....the wave would be hundreds of meters high and would wash over florida all the way into the gulf.
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