Spaceflight 🚀Richard Moissl, head of #ESA’s #PlanetaryDefence office, 54:00 : We have a blaringly obvious blind spot. Something like #Chelyabinsk ☄️💥 could happen any moment right now, we wouldn't have any prewarning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8njR4413hok
YouTube
#ESA : "The main challenge stems from the population of middle-size objects, ranging from tens to hundreds of metres in diameter 📏. There are a lot of these #asteroids ☄️, and most have not been spotted🔭 yet" 🙈 https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2018/06/Asteroid_danger_explained
Short: still to be spotted >70% (the ones > 100m)
On 📆 June 23 the @VRubinObs #observatory will unveil a first look at ultrahigh-definition images and videos of the cosmos taken 🔭 from a mountaintop in #Chile. And you can participate by joining a public livestream (in English and Spanish) or one of the in-person watch parties at #planetariums, #universities and #museums 🏛️ around the globe. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/see-vera-c-rubin-observatorys-first-images-live-with-these-watch-parties/
While taking images of the distant #universe, @VRubinObs also discovered 2,104 #asteroids ☄️ flitting about in our own solar system—including seven whose orbits hew close to Earth’s own https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/06/23/1119129/first-images-vera-c-rubin-observatory
According to #NASA, space rocks ☄️ measuring about one to 20 metres across collided with Earth’s atmosphere resulting in fireballs 🔥 556 times over 20 years. #Chelyabinsk is the best example. The types of #asteroids we should perhaps be most concerned about are those about 140 metres 📏 across https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/jun/28/its-something-that-happens-are-we-doing-enough-to-save-earth-from-a-devastating-asteroid-strike
📆 August 8, 2025 #'Meteorite ☄️ fragments struck a man's roof like a bullet and left a dent in the floor of the home outside #Atlanta https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/fiery-meteor-punched-georgia-homes-roof-older-earth-124493520
“This is something that used to be expected once every few decades and not multiple times within 20 years”. Multiple fragments of that #meteorite ☄️ punched through the roof of a home just south of #Atlanta, dented laminate flooring and missed the man living there by 14 feet 📏 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/11/science/meteor-georgia-older-than-earth.html
“To be able to hear 👂 the sonic boom loudly from the ground suggests that quite a big chunk of the #meteor was pretty close to the ground. And that possibly means there’s chunks of the #meteorite ☄️ that actually made it down to the ground" https://www.independent.co.uk/space/meteor-explosion-sonic-boom-australia-houses-b2805229.html
📆 Aug. 15, 2025 the 9m #asteroid #2025PW1 ☄️ passes in 277,000km distance https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroid-watch/next-five-approaches/
📊 #Asteroids ☄️ which came closer to Earth than the #Moon 🌙 in 2025 by time of discovery 🔭
• After closest approach: 94 (49.7%)
• < 24 hours before: 36 (19.0%)
• up to 7 days before: 57 (30.2%)
• > one week before: 2 (1.1%)
• > 7 weeks before: 0 (0.0%)
• > one year before: 0 (0.0%)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroid_close_approaches_to_Earth_in_2025
Unpredicted #asteroid ☄️ impacts 💥 (the vast majority are still missed) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_impact_prediction#Effectiveness_of_the_current_system
Between 140 meters and 1 km : 10,624 #asteroids ☄️ discovered 🔭 https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/over-33000-near-earth-asteroids-have-been-detected-since-1990
14:43 - The #Torino scale explained "10 is a really bad day for the #dinosaurs" 🦕 (including a really nice #Trump #parody 😄) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK3tW1E615Y
Asteroids Headed Towards Earth with Rick Binzel
#Asteroid #2017SH33 ☄️ was last observed 🔭 in 2017 https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=2017%20SH33 and estimated 700m-1.6 km in diameter https://neo.ssa.esa.int/risk-list. It might impact 💥 2026-04-30 (but we haven't a clue as there isn't any recent data)
“You can only do something to address a threat if you know about it,” Moissl says. “So the very first step in the whole chain is observations 🔭. You need to find the #asteroids.” https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/asteroids-team-saving-earth
"If necessary, we can build a spacecraft to deflect an #asteroid ☄️ in four years" ⏳🥱 https://www.mundoamerica.com/entertainment/2025/02/24/67bc4638fc6c83360e8b4591.html
