It’s No Joke – Another Asteriod Will Make A Close Approach to Earth on April 1st!

 Space  1 Response »
Mar 312012
 
The Earth seen from Apollo 17.

The Earth seen from Apollo 17. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Another close encounter with an asteroid is about to happen again and this time it’s happening on April Fools Day but this is no joke. A passenger jet sized space rock discovered March 13th and referred to by astronomers as 2012 EG5 will come closer to Earth than the Moon is.
Don’t worry, NASA says it will not hit us though.
This makes the third asteroid to come close to Earth in less than 30 days. Two other asteroids passed close by us on March 26th (2012 FP35 within 96,000 miles and 2012 FS35 which passed within 36,000 miles of Earth).
We will see another close flyby on April 4th when 2012 FA57, discovered on March 28, will pass at a range just beyond the orbit of the moon.
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Just In – Sun Blasts Earth With Major M-Class Flare (March 10 – 1:54 PM EST)

 Space  1 Response »
Mar 102012
 
Artist's rendition of Earth's magnetosphere.

Image via Wikipedia

The sun has fired another blast directly at Earth. A class M8.4 solar X-ray flare just was just sent hurling in our direction at 12:44 PM (EST) today from sunspot (AR1429) again . This is a major flare that is just a couple of points short of an X-Class flare and it is directly facing Earth so we will feel it with full force. Our magnetosphere is already stressed from the recent barrage and this can’t make things any better. The chance of a strong geomagnetic storm is probable. This post will be updated as more details are determined. Sometime during the morning of March 12, a strong (K7 or higher) geomagnetic storm will arrive in the form of a magnetic cloud resulting from the full halo CME generated on March 9.

2nd Solar X-Flare Hurled Towards Us Overnight

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Mar 072012
 

The sun has hurled a 2nd X Class flare at Earth.  The flare was measured at X1.3 and was not directly aimed at Earth.  This is the 2nd X-Class flare from sunspot AR1429 in less than 24 hrs.  It is expected to reach the sometime in the next 24-48 hours and will create geomagnetic disturbances that may significantly disrupt radio and GPS systems.

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Asteroid 2012 DA14 Is Coming!

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Mar 052012
 

 

Cropped from TIFF image from [http://www.solar...

Image via Wikipedia

NASA’s Impact Risk Report confirms that newly discovered asteroid 2012 DA14 will be the closest asteroid to ever pass by Earth since it has been measuring these objects.  Flying below even the orbit of the Google geo satellite, the asteroid is scheduled to arrive February 15th, 2013.  Current calculations indicate that it will miss our planet but not by much.  More to come…..

 

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1.8 X2-Class CME Just Misses Earth as Sun’s Most Active Sunspot Rotates Away From Us (For Now)

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Jan 282012
 
Crackling with Solar Flares Flare zoom in

A powerful X2-Class flare measuring 1.8 was unleashed from sunspot 1402 last night as it was rotating away from us. The protons unleashed by the Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) are bombarding Earth right now but fortunately, the sunspot was rotating away from us at the time of the explosion so it will just miss us. Nonetheless, the Earth will see some of the affects caused from this with radio interference and GPS issues. Had this sunspot directly faced us at the point of explosion, it could have caused more substantial effects. we may continue to see more light shows similar to the ones enjoyed in the Northern latitudes this past week. Most of the effects will reach Earth January 30th/31st.

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