A Very Close Call...!

Normally we could expect some type of warning if a foreign object came too close to the Earth for comfort. Guess what...the warning never came. Not only that, but this asteroid wasn't even seen until the last day!

A Surprisingly Close Asteroid

Photo credit: space.com

Over a century ago, an asteroid exploded over Tunguska and razed 500,000 acres of trees. In April 2018, out of nowhere, another space rock hurled past Earth. Called 2018 GE3, it was only spotted a day before its surprise flyby.

It was so hair-raising because it could have been bigger than the Siberian asteroid of 1908. 2018 GE3 measured between 48–110 meters (157–360 ft) wide. At the extreme, it was almost four times bigger than its Tunguska cousin.

Buzzing Earth on April 15, the asteroid chose an uncomfortably close lane at about 192,000 kilometers (119,400 mi) from Earth. The Moon was nearly double that distance from the Earth.

Although an impact would not have caused global damage, 2018 GE3 is nothing to laugh at. It was up to six times larger than another rock that burst over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013. That event caused property damage up to 93 kilometers (58 mi) away and injured over 1,000 people.

Most sobering was 2018 GE3’s stealthy approach that avoided detection until the last day.

I don't know about you, but I would prefer to have more than a few hours notice about something coming this close to us. With all that fancy equipment, both in space and on Earth, I feel the PTB should be able to handle that. I found this article over on Listverse.

Coffee out on the patio this morning.