Asteroid that could do as much damage as 1,000 atomic bombs will whizz past tomorrow (and could knock out your TV signal)
Worldwide, Daily news | ankakh | February 14, 2013 15:53Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s an asteroid that will almost hit Earth – relatively speaking.
Just before 7.30pm tomorrow, a 150ft wide chunk of space rock will whizz past us in the closest shave since records began.
If it hit the planet, it could wipe out a city the size ofLondonand do as much damage as 1,000 of the atomic bombs dropped onHiroshima.
Nasa has stressed that ‘no Earth impact is possible’ – but scientists say there is a small chance that TV signals may be affected.
The asteroid will cut through the orbit of some satellites used for weather forecasting and for satellite phones and television.
Mobile phones won’t be affected as they rely on land-based masts and cables.
Asteroid 2012 DA14 was discovered last year by a Spanish dentist turned amateur astronomer and has been closely tracked ever since.
Hurtling through space at speeds of five miles a minute, eight times as fast as a speeding bullet, it will come within 17,000 miles of Earth at 7.24pm tomorrow.
Astronomy expert Daniel Brown, ofNottinghamTrentUniversity, said: ‘In astronomical terms, that’s very close.’
Although the asteroid won’t be visible with the naked eye, it should be possible to see it with binoculars.
Dr Brown recommends looking towards the north-east horizon around two hours after sunset.
He added: ‘This will give us the ideal opportunity to learn more about asteroids.’
‘If we want to protect ourselves from possible impacts in the future, we need to understand how we can manipulate them.
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