Every time we see news that another asteroid is going to have a ‘close shave’ or a ‘nearby run’ at the planet Earth, we also note this: The asteroid was typically discovered just days (or in some cases mere hours) prior to the collision that will not be.
The scenario is no different than the one playing out concerning asteroid 2014 RC.. It will pass ‘very close’ to the planet this coming Sunday. It will not be visible by the naked eye but those aware of it will be able to scope it with their equipment..
Oh, and it was just discovered on August 31 by the Catalini Sky Survey in Tuscon, Arizona..
This particular space rock is 60 feet .. it is expected to fly over New Zealand around 2:18 PM EDT..
A near miss, though.
Far enough away .. not to worry.
But we should worry–we should also be acting on these worries with fixes. There are tons of space rocks looming out there. Some are distant.. some are close. And often time, as we see with 2014 RC, we discover them only a short time before they may come close to the planet—or hit. That’s the scary part.. the knowing of the unknowing..
Chelyabinsk was no different. Recall, when Chelyabinsk happened, the world was fixated on another part of the world as a close by asteroid was ‘safely’ missing the planet. Just then, a boom occurred and the news broke about a big Chelyabinsk explosion. But not by NASA, or other scientists.. instead on Twitter resulting from the use of dashcams that caught the flying ball of fire in the sky..
And that is how things happen..the ‘pink stars’ are always falling.
Let’s just hope the sky doesn’t.
In the mean time.. keep looking up. You never know what you’ll find.