What were you doing yesterday Jan. 9th 2017 ?

Release

So this is happening while I was going through my weekly routine.
http://www.space.com/35265-newfound-asteroid-buzzes-earth-2017-ag13.html

Passed Earth only half the distance between the Earth and the Moon, authority stated they did not discover it until last Saturday Jan 7th, 2017. I guess 2 whole days was not long enough to announce the discovery to the public.

This "asteroid" is as large or larger than the object that exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February 2013.

azgreg

I thought I heard something.

letthebigdogshunt

Perhaps they knew what the trajectory of the asteroid was and knew it would miss the planet. If the issued a warning it probably would have started mass hysteria. Now it is just a passing piece of info.

Release

letthebigdogshunt If they issued a warning it probably would have started mass hysteria. Now it is just a passing piece of info.

Of course, sometimes being ignorant is not entirely bad.
Many would pass this off as one of hundreds asteroids passing near our planet in a year, but this time it was very very close. It does not take that much to have history repeat itself.

letthebigdogshunt

Release

Like chicken little? The Sky is falling. It is not being ignorant it is being uninformed in this case. If they knew the path of the asteroid it was a good call not to broadcast it.

sdandrea1

I thought azgreg had farted................turns out it was just an asteroid. Whew!

azgreg

sdandrea1
Same thing.

Typhoon

sdandrea1

Nothing hurts down there like Asteroids...

Release

letthebigdogshunt

It could be the case if they had discovered the asteroid with time to spare for study.... however, this one was discovered 2 days prior to it's passing by the Earth. So we are not monitoring every corner of the sky and definitely the surveillance telescopes could not monitor the galaxy at one glance.
Technology does not offer all the solution at this time. The authority does not know everything.

We are not, as smart as we assumed.

letthebigdogshunt

Since they did not have time to study the trajectory as to whether it might hit our planet I still say why should they broadcast it to the public? One, they do not know if it is going to be anyway near hitting earth. Two, they have no idea if it hits earth where it would hit. Since earth has a circumference of some 25 thousand miles all they could do was guesstimate where it MIGHT hit. There is no upside to inform the public of this possible threat. That would be like saying people a nuke has been launched from (name your country) so be on the lookout.

Release

letthebigdogshunt

Yes, however, should it hit the turf instead of exploding in the atmosphere upon entry like the one over the city of Chelyabinsk in February 2013. Nothing will matter wherever one is. The difference is, if someone had the facility or the means to weather the impact better should have been informed of this possibility.

Next time I'll take note when my neighborhoods go into their bunker for the day. 😃

"Need To Know" is not my favorite sentence, but it could be necessary in the extreme cases.

letthebigdogshunt

Release

I understand what you are saying, here is the but, my concern would be all the panic that would happen and how many people are injured or killed because of the warning? Then the looting in some of the larger cities as well. I guess we have to disagree with what we feel should happen if this occurs.

Moeman

I was having a birthday bash. Glad the fireworks did not happen

Release

letthebigdogshunt

Yes, totally agreed since I had seen how stupid people could be in general when panic hits.
I'd suggest those whom have private survival bunkers to fund for a super computer and user time or report from the James Webb Space Telescope. http://www.space.com/34593-james-webb-space-telescope-complete-2018-launch.html

johnnydoom

If they had announced it, it might have doubled the total of Oct. births this year. Apparently early Oct. is already high time given its 9+ months post New Year.