On February 17th a near-Earth asteroid (NEA), 2000 EM26, with an estimated diameter of three football fields (270 meters) and traveling at approximately 27,000 mph (12.37 km/s), will come racing by Earth on its close approach.

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Memorabilia
Dave | Feb 14th, 2014 | 1 Comment
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Representationonly –Thereareuncountablenumbers of theseorbitingrocks that poseanimminent danger tospace
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On February17th a near-Earth asteroid (NEA), 2000 EM26, with an estimated diameter of three football fields (270
meters) and traveling at approximately27,000 mph (12.37 km/s), will come racing byEarth on its close approach.
This is a subtle reminder of the dangers of asteroid impacts just one year after two historic events took place on February
15, 2013. Slooh will cover NEA2000 EM26, a potentiallyhazardous asteroid (PHA), as it makes its closest approach on
Monday, February17th, starting at 6 pm PST/ 9 pm EST/ 02:00 UTC (2/18) live from the CanaryIslands. Viewers can
watch free on Slooh.com or bydownloading the Slooh iPad app.
The live image stream will be accompanied bydiscussions led bySlooh host and astronomer Bob Berman, Slooh
technical director Paul Cox, and special guest Dr. Mark Boslough, an expert on planetaryimpacts and global catastrophes
and frequent participant on manyscience TVdocumentaries. Viewers can ask questions during the show byusing
hashtag #asteroid.
Regular Checks
Slooh routinelytracks potentiallyhazardous objects (both asteroids and comets) whose sizes are large enough, and
whose orbits take them near enough to our planet, that theyhave the potential to cause significant damage in the event of
an impact. Slooh’s live broadcasts have attracted millions of viewers, and Slooh has become a leading voice to help
ensure that public awareness does not wane.
Since 2008, Slooh has covered numerous asteroids as they’ve made their close approaches to Earth, including asteroids
2012 LZ1, Toutatis, andApophis. Slooh’s work in this area was recognized in 2013 when NASAinvited Slooh to participate
in the NASAAsteroid Grand Challenge. Slooh members continue to track and monitor NEAs everynight, helping to
determine their accurate orbits and impact risk.
Says Berman, “On a practical level, a previously-unknown, undiscovered asteroid seems to hit our planet and cause
damage or injuryonce a centuryor so, as we witnessed on June 20, 1908, and February15, 2013. Everyfew centuries, an
even more massive asteroid strikes us —fortunatelyusuallyimpacting in an ocean or wasteland such anAntarctica. But
the ongoing threat, and the fact that biosphere-altering events remain a real if small annual possibility, suggests that
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discovering and tracking all NEOs, as well as setting up contingencyplans for deflecting them on short notice should the
need arise, would be a wise use of resources.”
Slooh’s technical and research director, Paul Coxsays: “We continue to discover these potentiallyhazardous asteroids —
sometimes onlydays before theymake their close approaches to Earth. Slooh’s asteroid research campaign is gathering
momentum with Slooh members using the Slooh robotic telescopes to monitor this huge population of potentially
hazardous space rocks. We need to find them before theyfind us!”
More Detail onFebruary15, 2013, Events
One year ago, on February15, 2013, the world witnessed two amazing events —one expected and the other not.
Astronomers anticipated the arrival of super-close asteroid 2012 DA14 —a 40,000 ton space rock, 98 ft (30 m) in
diameter, due to miss Earth bya measly17,200 miles (27,680 km) —closer even than our geosynchronous satellites. In
fact, NEA2012 DA14 was the closest object of that size to whizpast Earth in our lifetimes. Slooh successfullytracked
DA14 live from its CanaryIsland observatoryusing special imaging techniques (see highlight under video section below).
On that same day, however, something else unexpectedlytore through the skies over Chelyabinsk, Russia, damaging
thousands of houses, breaking innumerable windows, and causing injuries from broken glass. This object, later
discovered to be an asteroid as well, was 65 ft (20 m) in diameter and exploded 18 miles above Siberia releasing the
equivalent energyof more than 20 plus atomic bombs (approximately460 kilotons of TNT).
While analysts continue to debate the significance of the event, manybelieve the residents of Chelyabinsk were extremely
luckyto escape this celestial encounter with no loss of life. To commemorate the February15th event, the Russian
government announced that ten gold medals for winners on February15th at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics will be
embedded with Chelyabinsk meteor fragments.
SLOOH Contact: Patrick Paolucci
press@slooh.com
+1 877-427-5664 x3
Broadcast start time: Monday, February17th, 6 pm PST/ 9 pm EST/ 02:00 UTC (2/18)
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Niall Bradley · Top Commenter · Editor at SOTT.NET
Can it really be stationary planets throwing them in? Or is something else out there doing that job?
Reply · Like · 9 hours ago
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