How Many More Asteroids Will Threaten Earth?2/15/2013 3:26PM
How many more asteroids are in orbit besides 2012 D414, which passed by Earth on Friday? NASA's Dr. Jim Green joins Digits to discuss. Photo: NASA.
... I ... that huge asteroid about this what should pass the upper hundred and seventy ... miles and miles an hour and a sign that we got me to write slamming into the ... while commit Digits I'm Simon Constable we got the pajama green of a man so joining us now from Greenbelt Maryland to tell us all about this um what we should thank him should we be scared ... I don't agree with thanks for joining us ... my pleasure Simon ... ALM so let's start with the major rides ... on how unusual is it for an object of the size of the meat you're right that that that slams ... and into Russia to to actually do that ... it is unusual is it is a historic event ... people love were hurt ... we're getting those reports is everyone else is in its most un fortunate ... however other ... smaller media rights to enter our Earth's atmosphere almost on a daily basis ... they don't make such a big bang is this one guys ... did it did to to your knowledge has anyone been to ... buy me to write the fall ... to my knowledge this would be the first event will be and in our lifetime ... in a living here on earth people living on earth ... to be our first event for which we of of of of proof that people were hurt ... through this event ... denoted Sunstein sitting on the asteroid that passing abide by a B of A and a very fast they ... this is a law it is this a lot this thing that's come close to the up ... it is of very large asteroid in the sense that it's about the size of half a football field ... it does come close to the euro ... but ... everyone to say it's more than seventeen thousand two hundred miles so away from our cloud tops ... and its closest approach ... the smaller ones but none that actually can come closer to the euro and have in the past ... that said this is that the biggest one I knew nobody been tracking these for about twenty is this ... my understanding is that this is the biggest of the biggest the closest in and in twenty years ... aam will we see this asteroid again ... well it turns out is that the passes by us reverse gravity is the push of a little bed ... and it will change its orbital period ... right now has an orbital period of about three and sixty six days ... I don't change to about three hundred and seventeen days ... now that Saddam a completely different trajectory ... offer which will watch it moderate ... it will come by ... in another ten or twenty years of that will come between us and the minivan ... to know if this is this asteroid what's new with it the ... calm of an idea saying it wants ... what what I'd do a lot of damage would this be I complete my math for everybody ... one comparison between the two that happened today ... this one as I mentioned is about half the size of a football field ... in the one that I came down over Russia is about some ... of the fifteen yard line so it's about fifteen meters instead of of more of the forty five or fifteen years so ... size wise and say it is much different ... but you know we've been observing these now for twenty years there's about nine thousand objects that we've been looking at ... only about a thousand of them are really potentially hazardous and that means really big ... the we need to take care of up and watch their orbit motions ... I understand that as this asteroid passes bias on its way off you can and it was some great thou waitin to do that ... well this is a wonderful opportunity for our planetary scientists to learn a lot about this particular object we do that with radar ... as soon as it passes by ... for the next several days our readers are gonna hang ... this particular object will get a very good idea as to how fast it stands ... will see its entire shape ... overall over a period of hours ... a day every day for the next three or four days ... and will get a better idea as to how the orbit is change by the year's gravity ... okay I will grind stuff or you wish you luck with your research is on this thank you very much ... talk that GM grain from Macedonia from Greenbelt Maryland we appreciate time so ...