Two Hazardous Asteroid Passes To Happen In 2016-2017

There has been a fair bit of excitement, worry and even anxiety over the upcoming near Earth fly by of asteroid 2013 TX68.

Even with the usual assurances from NASA that it will not hit, one still has to wonder or worry just a little since in general the trajectory of any free floating object’s journey in space can be influenced by things such as solar heating, minor collisions with other objects, and of course being perturbed by the gravity of other celestial objects.

Despite all of those varying influences on asteroids NASA has still managed to have a pretty accurate record of the proximity of these seemingly increasing close fly by’s of the last few years.

However there is one important difference this time around for asteroid 2013 TX68’s March 2016 trip. This time NASA admit’s that they weren’t able to lock down it’s exact path: “This asteroid’s orbit is quite uncertain, and it will be hard to predict where to look for it,” Paul Chodas, manager of NASA’s Center for Near Earth Orbit Studies, said. “There is a chance that the asteroid will be picked up by our asteroid search telescopes when it safely flies past us next month, providing us with data to more precisely define its orbit around the sun.” Does that statement make anyone else feel just a little nervous?

Asteroid TX68 is not a planet buster by any stretch but it is about twice as big as the Chelyabinsk meteor which exploded over Russia on February 13, 2013. According to Wikipedia source the object was undetected before its atmospheric entry, in part because its radiant was close to the Sun. Its explosion created panic among local residents, and about 1,500 people were injured seriously enough to seek medical treatment. All of the injuries were due to indirect effects rather than the meteor itself, mainly from broken glass from windows that were blown in when the shock wave arrived, minutes after the superbolide’s flash. Some 7,200 buildings in six cities across the region were damaged by the explosion’s shock wave, and authorities scrambled to help repair the structures in sub-zero (°C) temperatures.

“the object was undetected before its atmospheric entry, in part because its radiant was close to the Sun”, now there’s a sobering statement…just imagine if it wasn’t just 15-20m (49-65ft) in size and came in undetected!

So we’ve covered that NASA has admitted to being uncertain about 2013 TX68 trajectory for this year (2016) which in itself causes at least a moderate bit of “uneasy” but we’re only getting started.

After it speeds back out into the galaxy, the persistent “little” asteroid will be back on September 28, 2017. And on this third trip, the asteroid might actually hit us…

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