Armageddon It Ain't

erco

Tourbus-sized asteroid 2011MD zipped past the earth today, closer than some satellites: http://news.discovery.com/space/visualizing-asteroid-2011-md-zip-past-earth-animation-110624.html

It barely made the news, yet I'm sure that the asteroid was quite excited, knowing full well it may never again be this close to Parallax HQ in Rocklin, CA.

Neat animated flybys at http://orbit.psi.edu/~tricaric/2011MD.html

Beau Schwabe

At 30 feet wide, I would think you might be able to see that under the right lighting conditions from the Sun.... although it looked like it was sling shot from the South pole. .... Neat!

Cluso99

Came past here at 11:30pm last night but they said only visible using a telescope - mine is 1000km away at a friends place

Still it was too close for comfort. There is a really big one due around 2185 and has a 1 in 1,000 chance of hitting. Better odds than Lotto

prof_braino

Couple years ago I saw the coolest fireball cross the entire sky. Appearantly this was a wandering particle that passed through the upper atmosphere but did not slow down or burn up. So I guess they can get pretty close and still not hit. But when a really big one does hit, it will quickly become a non issue, as noone will be around to care for very long.