Asteroid 2005 YU55 To Narrowly Miss Earth
This radar image of asteroid 2005 YU55 was generated from data taken in April 2010 by the Arecibo Radar Telescope in Puerto Rico. (NASA)
The Huffington Post Timothy Stenovec
An asteroid a quarter-mile-wide will, astronomically speaking, narrowly miss Earth next week.
And while it is the closest an asteroid this size has come to the home planet since 1976, there's no need to call Bruce Willis ... yet.
"There is no chance that this object will collide with the Earth or moon," Don Yeomans, the manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Program office, told Reuters.
But that doesn't mean the asteroid -- named 2005 YU55 -- won't be a threat to earth in the future.
Lance Benner, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a video from NASA (available below) that scientists haven't been able to reliably compute the asteroid's path beyond a couple of hundred years from now.
At its closest point, the space rock will be about 201,700 miles (324,600 kilometers) away, which is 0.85 the distance between the moon and the Earth. NASA says that the asteroid will reach this point at 6:28 p.m. EST on Tuesday.
"In effect, it'll be moving straight at us from one direction, and then go whizzing by straight away from us in the other direction," Benner said.
An asteroid this size -- which, according to Scientific American is larger than an aircraft carrier -- would cause widespread damage if it were to hit Earth, however. The Associated Press spoke to Jay Melosh, a professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Purdue University, who said that the asteroid would create a four-mile wide crater 1,700 feet deep. It could cause 70-foot tsunami waves and shake the ground like a magnitude-7 earthquake.
Even though the asteroid will be inside the orbit of the moon, NASA said that the space rock's gravitational pull shouldn't have any "detectable effect" on Earth's tectonic plates or tides.
Yeomans told HuffPost that the flyby will give astronomers a great view of 2005 YU55 and is an opportunity to do research into the asteroid's composition. He said that it's a C-Type asteroid, which means it contains carbon-based minerals which could potentially be used in future space exploration.
"These objects are important for science ... they're potential resources for raw materials in space that we may wish to take advantage of some day," he said.
The New York Times reported last month on proposed fuel stations in space that one study says could put astronauts on an asteroid by 2024.
LOOK: Animation of asteroid's path as it passes by Earth.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
M8 Lagoon Nebula Wallpaper
A portion of the Lagoon nebula imaged by Argentinean astronomers Julia Arias and Rodolfo Barbá using the Gemini South telescope with the Gemini Multiple-Object Spectrograph.
Credit: Gemini Observatory
New Model Predicts Fallout from Big Meteorite Strike
New Model Predicts Fallout from Big Meteorite Strike
Astronaut Clayton C. Anderson tweeted this picture from space, a view of Aorounga Impact Crater, southeast of of Emi Koussi volcano in Chad.
CREDIT: @Astro_Clay/NASA
A major meteorite impact on Earth could spell doomsday — or not. To better predict what could be in store if a giant space rock slammed into our planet, scientists have built a new model to simulate the seismic fallout from such an event.
The model predicts how seismic waves would spread through Earth after a meteorite collision. It's the first to take into account the planet's elliptical shape, surface features and ocean depths. In contrast, previous models have assumed Earth is perfectly spherical and featureless, with nothing to disrupt a meteorite's impact.
"After a meteorite impact, seismic waves travel outward across the Earth's surface like after a stone is thrown in water," research leader Matthias Meschede of the University of Munich said in a statement. "For the Earth, these calculations are usually made using a smooth, perfect sphere model, but we found that the surface features of a planet or a moon have a huge effect on the aftershock a large meteorite will have, so it's extremely important to take those into account."
The researchers used their new model to simulate the collision that created the Chicxulub crater in Mexico around 65 million years ago. This crash, which was 2 million times more powerful than a hydrogen bomb, is thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs and much of Earth's life at the time.
The new study showed that the seismic waves resulting from the impact would have been scattered and unfocused, causing less severe ground displacement, tsunamis, and seismic and volcanic activity than previously thought.
"But our results go beyond Chicxulub," Meschede said. "We can, in principle, now estimate how large a meteorite would have to have been to cause catastrophic events. Our model can be used to estimate the magnitude and effect of other major impacts in Earth's past."
NASA and astronomers around the world regularly keep track of potentially hazardous asteroids. NASA announced last month that it has found about 90 percent of the largest, most dangerous space rocks near our planet.
To that end, NASA is tracking a huge space rock, the asteroid 2005 YU55, which is the size of an aircraft carrier and will fly close by the Earth, inside the orbit of the moon, on Nov. 8. Though this is considered a very close pass, the rock is calculated to pose no risk to planet Earth.
Meschede developed the new model with colleagues while visiting Princeton University through the Visiting Student Research Collaborators program. The researchers describe their new model in the October issue of Geophysical Journal International.
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Massive Tsunami Drill Coincides With Continent Killer Asteroids Close Pass In November
Killer Asteroid Hurtling Toward Earth -- How Worried Should We Be?
by Norman Byrd
A massive aircraft-carrier-sized asteroid is headed in Earth's direction. Scientists say it will not impact the planet but it will pass closer to the Earth than lunar orbit. And it's the largest asteroid that will pass by Earth for the the next decade and a half.
According to the astronomers and scientists at the Near Earth Object (NEO) Project, a gigantic piece of space rock, what could be called a killer asteroid, is barreling through the heavens on its way to a crossing point with Earth orbit. Luckily for the denizens of the third planet from the sun, it will still be .8 lunar distance units (180,000 miles) away from their world when it crosses that orbit point.
NASA classifies asteroid 2005 YU55 as a "potentially hazardous object," but astronomers at NEO maintain that there is no chance of a collision on this passage by the Earth (asteroids and other objects have a gravitational relationship with the sun and, unless interfered with in some way, will usually maintain some type of orbital pattern), rendering the planet safe from 2005 YU55 for at least 100 years.
The NEO Project recently reported the completion of the mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer in identifying and cataloguing near Earth objects. The study found that there were 40 percent fewer mid-range asteroids (from 330 feet in diameter to 3,300 feet) in the solar system than previously theorized and that, of all those asteroids located, none were on a collision course with Earth anytime soon. However, the study also concluded that they had found only 90 percent of the Solar System's asteroids.
Ten percent of the asteroids left undiscovered are massive rocks that could potentially have a devastating effect if they were to collide with Earth.
As to the mid-range asteroid (1,312 feet wide) currently headed in the general direction of Earth, according to CNN, an expert at Purdue University noted that if such a killer asteroid were to impact the planet, it would have the same effect as a 4,000 megaton blast or a magnitude 7.0 earthquake. If the asteroid were to land in the ocean, it could potentially cause a 70-foot high tsunami within 60 miles of the crash epicenter.
To compare, the meteor that is believed to have flashed across the sky in the Tunguska region of Siberia, Russia in 1908 has been estimated to have been only 120 feet in diameter. It has been theorized that the airburst from that blast was the equivalent of 185 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs (releasing energy at an outside range of 18 kilotons per bomb). The remote area saw forests laid low and burned for in a zone measuring 830 square miles from the blast's epicenter. Asteroid 2005 YU55, if it were to impact the Earth, would release energy equivalent to 222,222 Hiroshima-sized bombs.
And that is still far smaller than the Chicxulub asteroid that impacted off the Yucatan peninsula over 65 million years ago and is believed to have been the most significant causal contribution to the massive dinosaur die-off and the K-T mass extinction event. That asteroid was estimated to be 6-9 miles wide, releasing the same energy as a billion Hiroshima-sized atomic blasts.
Not to let an opportunity pass, though, astronomers are expected to take advantage of the near miss passage of the asteroid. It is a rare occasion that scientists are able to view asteroids via optical lenses. NASA will join the skywatch as well, using the Goldstone radar telescopes in the Mojave desert to study the massive space rock. The giant Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico is expected to devote several days to high resolution mapping as well.
Asteroid 2005 YU55 will pass closest to Earth on Nov. 8. It will be a daylight object and those wishing to get a glimpse will have their best chance after 4 p.m. EST.
Massive Tsunami Drill Coincides With Continent Killer Asteroids Close Pass In November
9-10 November 2011: In August 2010, the PTWS Steering Committee (SC) met to discuss the progress of the PTWS during the intersessional period, including the next PTWS exercise. Considering the general objectives of PACWAVE08, the SC approved the PACWAVE Summary Report and requested Working Groups 2 and 3 (Tsunami Detection, Warning and Dissemination; Tsunami Awareness and Response) to cooperate in the preparation of an end-to-end communication exercise PACWAVE11 in November 2011. The actual evacuation of local communities (or parts of it) will be left to the decision of local or national authorities. A PTWS Exercises Task Team was formed, chaired by ITIC and New Zealand, to organize the exercise and elaborate on detailed scenarios.PacWave11 will be held on 9-10 November 2011 as a multi-scenario exercise that will allow all PTWS countries to exercise using a destructive local or regional tsunami scenario. PacWave 11 will also be used to introduce new tsunami advisory products of the PTWC that were proposed by the PTWS Enhanced Tsunami Warning Products Task Team and approved by ICG/PTWS-XXIV. IOC Circular Letter 2390 was issued on 13 May 2011 announcing the exercise and requesting PTWS Countries to nominate a PacWave11 focal point. IOC Manual and Guides 58 on How to Plan, Conduct, and Evaluate Tsunami Exercises was issued in July 2011. The PacWave11 Exercise Manual (IOC TS 97) was published in August 2011. UNESCO will issue a press release on 1 November 2011.
Previously on Wednesday October 12, 2011 twenty countries participated in an advanced tsunami drill in wake of recent earth changes.
It is well known that earthquake activity has increased ever so rapidly over the past few years/months and now multiple countries are interested in tracking tsunamis in an advanced way.
A Voice of America excerpt reads;
The new system will shift responsibility from United States and Japan to the countries most at risk in the region.
Wednesday’s drill marked a significant development for the ability of countries in the Indian Ocean region to detect and respond to earthquakes and tsunamis. Stuart Weinstein, the deputy director of the United States’ Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii says the warning centers participating in the drill in Indonesia, India and Australia did not exist before the 2004 Tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people in 12 countries.
Does this system test have anything to do with the passing of the massive continent killer asteroid 2005 YU55 that will pass very close to earth possibly striking or dragging debris with it on November 9, 2011, in conjunction with the FEMA/FCC takeover drill?
According to Laaska News;
Vietnam has held its first-ever tsunami evacuation drills in the central coastal city of Danang. The drills were carried out Tuesday for a scenario that saw the country hit by a huge tsunami like the one that devastated Japan earlier this year.
A UN report issued after Japan’s March 11th disaster says that an 8-point-6 magnitude earthquake in waters off the Philippines could trigger a 3- to 10-meter tall tsunami along the coastal regions of Vietnam.
Interestingly enough the major Japanese tsunami that struck in March of 1022 was within a few days of a major ELENIN alignment according to NASA’s JPL data.
The Hindu reads;
The mock tsunami drill has been conducted to check the preparedness of officials of various departments along with the communication systems and to simulate the evacuation and rescue mission that will take place in case of an actual tsunami,” according to commandant of the India Reserve Battalion, Puducherry, A. Anto Alphonse.
In this case, the Tsunami Warning centre issued a warning of an earthquake off the coast of Indonesia, which caused a tsunami. This warning was received by the Senior Superintendent of Police (Law and Order) V. J. Chandiran along with the emergency centres in the town, according to Sub Collector A. Muthamma.
Will they ban Christians from schools entirely?
Homosexual thought control is rapidly becoming the law of the land in our country.
As you’ve probably seen, Public Advocate has been aggressively fighting to defend the career of Viki Knox, a Special Education teacher in Union Township, NJ.
Mrs. Knox has recently come under intense fire for being brave enough to speak out against “Homosexual History Month.”
Over the past few years the Homosexual Lobby’s attacks on students and teachers have drastically increased in their growing war on classrooms and morality.
They want to turn public schools into indoctrination centers for their perverted agenda and silence all decency and morality.
And my friend, I’m afraid they’re winning.
They have already infiltrated so much of the establishment, putting pro-Family Americans like you and me on the OUTSIDE.
And now they are trying to paint Mrs. Knox as some kind of crazed hate-monger.
Well you and I know the truth.
But Mrs. Knox needs a champion in her corner. She needs our support.
You and I have eagerly answered this call to action, swarming the phone lines of local school officials with demands for justice.
But we have to keep the pressure up. We have to let these officials know that mainstream Americans support the stand Mrs. Knox has taken, and we demand they drop all charges against her.
Please watch the video below to see everything that has been happening, and then I urge you to take action!
Even if you have already seen this video and called in your support, please call again!
We need to keep the pressure up!
Please call or email:
School Board President Ray Perkins
973-602-3462
frperkins@comcast.net
Will you fight for the Family right now?
Sincerley,
Eugene Delgaudio
President, Public Advocate of the United States
Vatican stunned by Irish embassy closure
Vatican stunned by Irish embassy closure
Parishioners and visitors attend mass at a Roman Catholic Church in Ireland in a …
"This is really bad for the Vatican because Ireland is the first big Catholic country to do this and because of what Catholicism means in Irish history," said a Vatican diplomatic source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
He said Ireland informed the Vatican shortly before the announcement was made on Thursday night.
Dublin's foreign ministry said the embassy was being closed because "it yields no economic return" and that relations would be continued with an ambassador in Dublin.
The source said the Vatican was "extremely irritated" by the wording equating diplomatic missions with economic return, particularly as the Vatican sees its diplomatic role as promoting human values.
Diplomats said the Irish move might sway others to follow suit to save money because double diplomatic presences in Rome are expensive.
It was the latest crack in relations that had been seen as rock solid until a few years ago.
DAMNING REPORT
In July, the Vatican took the highly unusual step of recalling its ambassador to Ireland after Prime Minister Enda Kenny accused the Holy See of obstructing investigations into sexual abuse by priests.
The Irish parliament passed a motion deploring the Vatican's role in "undermining child protection frameworks" following publication of a damning report on the diocese of Cloyne.
The Cloyne report said Irish clerics concealed from the authorities the sexual abuse of children by priests as recently as 2009, after the Vatican disparaged Irish child protection guidelines in a letter to Irish bishops.
While Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore denied the embassy closure was linked to the row over sexual abuse, Rome-based diplomats said they believed it probably played a major role.
"All things being equal, I really doubt the mission to the Vatican would have been on the list to get the axe without the fallout from the sex abuse scandal," one ambassador to the Vatican said, on condition of anonymity.
Cardinal Sean Brady, the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, said he was profoundly disappointed by the decision and hoped the government would "revisit" it.
"This decision seems to show little regard for the important role played by the Holy See in international relations and of the historic ties between the Irish people and the Holy See over many centuries," Brady said in a statement.
The Vatican has been an internationally recognized sovereign city-state since 1929, when Italy compensated the Catholic Church for a vast area of central Italy known as the Papal States that was taken by the state at Italian unification in 1860.
It has diplomatic relations with 179 countries. About 80 have resident ambassadors and the rest are based in other European cities.
The Vatican guards its diplomatic independence fiercely and in the past has resisted moves by some countries to locate their envoys to the Holy See inside their embassies to Italy.
Dublin said it was closing its mission to the Vatican along with those in Iran and East Timor to help meet its fiscal goals under an EU-IMF bailout. The closures will save the government 1.25 million euros ($1.725 million) a year.
(Additional reporting by Carmel Crimmins and Conor Humphries in Dublin; Editing by Tim Pearce)
Bankrupt church wants donations for pastor’s sick wife ferried in limo
Bankrupt church wants donations for pastor’s sick wife ferried in limo
Arvella Schuller, left, and Rev. Robert Schuller, in 1998: AP Photo/John Hayes
"They've completely depleted the church's funds," one member, Bob Canfield, told the Orange County Register. "But they have shown that they have absolutely no remorse for what they've done. They're still being chauffeured around in limos. We, the congregants, have nothing."
An email sent recently by Crystal Cathedral administrators said that Schuller and his wife, Arvella, "would appreciate meals over the next three to four weeks." It added: "They are to be sent to the church in order to be transported to Arvella. The limo drivers could pick up the dinners or meet in the Tower Lobby around 4:30 p.m."
Arvella Schuller has been suffering from pneumonia, and the email asked that the food be low in sodium and include items such as fruit, meat, soup and eggs.
Crystal Cathedral Ministries filed for bankruptcy last month. A lawsuit filed by creditors alleges that the Schullers borrowed more than $10 million from the church's endowment fund, and used it for salaries and regular church expenses.
"R.H. Schuller used his control and influence to cause the [cathedral] to enter into the agreements that benefitted himself and his family, to the detriment of the creditors and in breach of his fiduciary duties" to the church, the suit charges.
A spokesman for the church, John Charles, said the food request was in keeping with the church's commitment to Christian charity. "As Dr. Schuller always says, 'Find a need and fill it,'" he said. "I think that's what we were trying to do here."
But Canfield sees things differently. "These are millionaires who have limos and chauffeurs," he said. "Why in God's name would they want the congregants to deliver meals? It's ludicrous."