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asteroid 2012 DA14

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Asteroid 2012 DA14: footage of a meteor smacking into Earth

LOOK out! This is a video of a meteor smacking into the Urals. The impact injured 200 people. The meteor could be linked to asteroid 2012 DA14. That’s just passing by us. Phil Plait notes:

[E]xcluding actual impacts, 2012 DA14 will be still only be the eighth-closest approach by a known asteroid on record. The closest on record without actually hitting us was 2011 CQ1, which, in 2011, passed us by about 5500 km (3300 miles)—less than Earth’s radius! It was only about a meter across, so even if it had hit us we would’ve gotten a spectacular fireball, but probably no actual damage.

However, this is the largest asteroid we’ve seen come this close. Even then, it’s only 50 meters across, which is small as asteroids go.

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Posted: 15th, February 2013 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)