Space Junk ... as if trashing the planet was not enough

HERE Thursday, February 19, 2009

That shooting star you wished upon might be something less romantic:

This is a computer generated image provided by the European Space Agency which shows an artist impression of catalogued objects in low-Earth orbit viewed over the Equator.

Think of it as a galactic garbage dump. With a recent satellite collision still fresh on minds, participants at a meeting Thursday Feb. 19, 2009 in the Austrian capital Vienna are discussing ways to deal with space debris junk that is clogging up the Earth’s orbit.

Note … On Feb. 15th an asteroid about half the size of a football field will fly past Earth only 17,200 miles (27,680.7km between low and mid orbit) above our planet’s surface. There’s no danger of a collision, but the space rock, designated 2012 DA14, has NASA’s attention. “The odds of an impact with a satellite are extremely remote,” Yeomans says ….  ALMOST nothing orbits where the asteroid like 2012 DA14 will pass the Earth Feb 15th.

And the asteroid is definitely something interesting  to watch … because there are some satellites out there … and if it only nips one … it could have a domino effect …