RT – January 1, 2021

As nations across the globe say ‘good riddance’ to 2020, NASA has warned that a monstrous 220-meter asteroid is headed Earth’s way early in the new year.

Before that, this year’s final asteroid, 2020 YB4, measuring just 36 meters in diameter or roughly half the wingspan of a 747, passed by the Earth shortly after 6am UTC at a distance of 6.1 million kilometers. That means, in terms of the threat posed by space rocks at least, the planet made it out of 2020 somewhat intact.

However, in the first days of January, three additional, small Near Earth Objects (NEOs) will grace the Earth with their presence, for a brief time.

Just two days into 2021, the 15-meter asteroid 2019 YB4 will fly by at a safe distance of 6.4 million kilometers. The very next day, it will be followed up by two more chunks of cosmic debris in the form of the 15-meter 2020 YA1 and the 21-meter 2020 YP4, which will pass by at 1.5 and 2.1 million kilometers respectively.

But the biggie will come on January 3, as the relatively mountainous 2003 AF23, measuring an impressive 220m in diameter or about as wide as the Golden Gate Bridge is tall, will shoot past at 6.9 million kilometers.

https://www.rt.com

Space Daily – October 30, 2020

The Sun has entered its 25th solar cycle and is about to wake up. For the last few years our star has been pretty sleepy, with few sunspots, bright flares or massive ejections of magnetized plasma emanating from its surface. This quiet period is known as the solar minimum, but things are starting to heat up again.

Experts on the Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel recently announced that the Sun has officially entered a new cycle, its 25th since we’ve had enough data to reliably recognize them. While we can expect space weather to get more exciting in the next few years, with peak sunspot activity expected in 2025, the panel came to the consensus that this next cycle will be very similar to the previous, both generally weaker than the average solar cycle.

“While small and medium-sized solar storms are more likely during peak solar activity,” explains Juha-Pekka Luntama, Head of ESA’s Space Weather Office, “it is important to remember that individual large solar events, huge flares and coronal mass ejections, can happen at any point, independent of where we are in the solar cycle or how strong the cycle becomes.”

If such solar storms impact Earth, they can create geomagnetic storms in our magnetosphere. While good news for aurora hunters, these storms can disrupt and even damage power grids on Earth and satellites in orbit, and the vital services they provide.

https://www.spacedaily.com

Sputnik News – August 31, 2020

The so-called ‘Near-Earth Object’, classified as such by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), was first discovered by astronomers in 2010, and is set to cross Earth’s orbit on Sunday.

NASA is tracking a massive, 270 metre-wide asteroid that’s nearly double the diameter of the Great Roman Colosseum, and almost twice the height of Egypt’s iconic Pyramid of Giza.

The asteroid, formally known as object ‘465824 (2010 FR)’, is making its way toward Earth’s orbit at an incredible speed of approximately 50,530 km per hour (or 14 km per second), or over 1.5 times faster than what scientists call high-hypersonic speed.

The object, known as an ‘Apollo’ asteroid because it crosses Earth’s orbit, is not believed to be a threat to life on the planet, according to astronomers from NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies.

Nevertheless, scientists are monitoring space rocks such as 465824 (2010 FR) due to the effects of the gravitational pull of the planets of our solar system, as well as the Sun, which can alter their trajectory.

The asteroid is expected to hit Earth’s orbit on September 6, and will be just one of about ten near-Earth orbit flybys next month. Two such asteroids – 2020 QG5 and 2011 ES4, will arrive on Tuesday. Two more, 2020 PG6 and 465824 (2010 FR) will arrive on September 2 and 6, respectively. NASA expects ten more asteroid flybys in October.

Russia’s space agency Roscosmos commented on 2011 ES4’s approach on Sunday, promising that the planet “won’t die” from the 25 meter diameter space rock as it zips by the planet at a distance closer to Earth than our Moon. According to Roscosmos’s figures, about 80 similar asteroids approached Earth in August.

Astronomers don’t manage to spot every single asteroid that approaches Earth ahead of time. Earlier this month, a 3 by 6 meter asteroid zipped past Earth just 2,950 km above the Indian Ocean.

https://sputniknews.com

Strange Sounds – August 27, 2020

The near-constant bombardment of space rocks buzzing our planet continues, with planetary defenses alerted to a trio of asteroids measuring over 25 meters in diameter en route to Earth’s backyard this week.

To kick things off on Monday, not one but two space rocks over 25 meters (82 feet) in diameter flew past, both of which were detected just this month, leaving little time and space for error in calculating their trajectories. 

Asteroid 2020 PP3, 34 meters wide, passed us by at a distance of 6.1 million kilometers (3.7 million miles), having only been spotted 13 days ago. It was followed shortly afterwards by 2020 PJ6, 26 meters wide, at a distance of 5.3 million kilometers, which was spotted four days later on August 15.

Next up, on Wednesday, asteroid 2020 FF3, measuring 25 meters in diameter came far closer, though maintaining a safe distance of 2.4 million kilometers. This space rock was only spotted on August 14.

Punctuating the mid week are two smaller asteroids, 2016 AH164 (3.9 meters) and 2020 QQ2 (15 meters), which will pass at a distance of six million and 3.2 million kilometers on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

To put the danger in context, the Chelyabinsk meteor which exploded above Russia in February 2013 was just 18 meters in diameter, proving that it doesn’t take much for a meteorite or asteroid to cause a vast amount of destruction. 

Meanwhile, the recently-discovered asteroid 2020 PG6 is expected to hit the Earth on August 31, 2029, and measures 14 meters in diameter, highlighting once again the need for humanity to remain vigilant lest we be caught off guard and face a catastrophic impact event.

https://strangesounds.org

Michael Snyder – August 4, 2020

We live at a time when giant space rocks are whizzing past our planet with alarming regularity.  Sometimes we know in advance that they are coming, and sometimes we don’t.  In fact, on July 28th an asteroid the size of a car zipped past our planet “at a range that rivals the orbits of some high-flying satellites”, but we had only spotted it for the very first time on July 26th.  If we couldn’t see that one until it was nearly upon us, could it be possible that there are much larger potential threats hurtling toward our planet that we currently know nothing about?

In 1998, a big Hollywood movie entitled “Deep Impact” imagined what would happen if a very large asteroid hit the Atlantic Ocean.  It is hard to believe that it has been more than 20 years since it first came out, because I can still remember it very vividly.  In one of the most memorable scenes in the film, a massive tsunami that is hundreds of feet tall slams into the east coast of the United States causing immense death and destruction.

But that is just a movie.  Could something similar actually happen in real life?

On Tuesday, a British news source reminded us that scientists have discovered that such a scenario is actually a very real possibility…

A computer simulation of an asteroid impact tsunami developed by scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz (USCS), showed waves as high as 400 feet sweeping onto the Atlantic Coast of the US.

Steven Ward, a researcher at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at UCSC, and Erik Asphaug, an associate professor of Earth sciences, reported their findings in the Geophysical Journal International.

Of course an asteroid could potentially hit anywhere on the planet, but in their research Ward and Asphaug specifically focused on the Atlantic Ocean, and what their computer simulation came up with was extremely disconcerting…

For the simulation, the researchers chose an impact site consistent with the orientation of the Earth at the time of the predicted encounter – in the Atlantic Ocean about 360 miles from the US coast.

Dr Ward explained that the 60,000-megaton blast of the impact could vaporise the asteroid and blow a cavity in the ocean 11 miles across and all the way down to the seafloor, which is about three miles deep at that point.

Such an impact would send a series of giant waves in all directions, including toward the east coast of the United States.

http://endoftheamericandream.com

In July 2020, a news report discussed asteroid 2018 VP1, a small near-Earth object predicted to pass close to Earth in November. Early orbital calculations allowed for a range of possible distances, including a very close approach, but astronomers emphasized that the object was small and posed no significant danger. Uncertainty in the initial observations made precise distance claims premature. The story illustrates how preliminary asteroid forecasts can be misunderstood when a possible closest approach is presented as a certainty.

Read more at detroit.cbslocal.com

Julie Celestial – June 19, 2020

An annular solar eclipse will take place on Sunday, June 21, 2020. This is one of the most breathtaking celestial events when the Moon partially obscures the Sun, allowing a “ring of fire” on its edges. The eclipse will start several hours after the solstice.

The annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is farthest away from the Earth in its orbit, thus, appearing smaller in our skies, relative to the Sun.

The difference in apparent size is what sets annular eclipses apart from full eclipses– when the nearer position of the Moon (with its average radius of  800 km or 1 000 miles) makes it look the same size as our star (with a radius of around 696 000 km or 432 000 miles).

A stunning example of this was taken by photographer Colin Legg and astronomy student Geoff Sims in Western Australia in May 2013. The ring of fire is seen being distorted by the Earth’s atmosphere.

A complete ring of fire will be visible from central Africa through Asia, while many other areas, from southern Europe to the northern portions of Australia, will see a partial annular eclipse.

The instant of greatest eclipse takes place at 06:40 UTC, with the Sun in the constellation Taurus. This is 6.2 days after the Moon reaches apogee.

The synodic month in which the eclipse takes place has a Brown Lunation Number of 1206, NASA’s Fred Espenak aka Mr. Eclipse noted. The eclipse belongs to Saros 137 and is number 36 of 70 eclipses in the series. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node. The Moon moves southward with respect to the node with each succeeding eclipse in the series and gamma decreases.

At the peak of the eclipse, the Moon will obscure 99.4 percent of the Sun as the pair puts a spectacular display across the skies of northern India.

https://watchers.news

Amy Furr – June 4, 2020

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said Wednesday that it was keeping an eye on several asteroids moving closer to Earth in the next few days.

“According to the agency’s asteroid watch, the largest of the five currently being tracked is 1,100 feet wide, roughly the size of a stadium,” WMBF reported.

However, the massive asteroid, expected to be nearest the Earth on Saturday, was not supposed to be a threat because the closest it was predicted to come was 3.16 million miles away.

“There are three others the size of a plane and one the size of a house also making their way to earth over the next few days,” according to Fox 2 Now.

“Scientists also don’t believe there are any concerns from those asteroids either. The closest one is expected to come within 1,830,000 miles of earth later today,” the article noted.

On its website, NASA posted an Asteroid Watch Widget to track the asteroids and comets that would make relatively close approaches to our planet.

“The Widget displays the next five Earth approaches to within 4.6 million miles (7.5 million kilometers or 19.5 times the distance to the moon); an object larger than about 150 meters that can approach the Earth to within this distance is termed a potentially hazardous object,” the site read.

Although it was unlikely for an asteroid to collide with Earth in the near future, scientists from all over the world gathered at a 2019 conference to discuss how to respond to one big enough to destroy a major city, according to CBS News.

“All we have to do is change its speed a little faster or a little slower so that when it crosses Earth’s orbit, it crosses either in front of us or behind us,” stated Dr. Lori Glaze, who is the director of planetary science at NASA.

https://www.breitbart.com

RT – May 22, 2020

A huge asteroid that’s roughly the size of the Statue of Liberty is set to fly past Earth on Saturday. The enormous object is among a clutch of six space rocks that will whizz past our planet this weekend.

The largest of the half-dozen space visitors is dubbed 2020 JX and it measures up to 100 meters in diameter, making it around the same size as the icon on Liberty island in New York.

NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) is tracking the flying chunk of space material in case it poses any danger to our planet. Thankfully, its calculations forecast that the space boulder will safely pass by at a speed of nearly 18,000 miles per hour at around 19:00 GMT.

The US Space Administration has classified 2020 JX as an Apollo asteroid, the same classification as the meteor that injured hundreds of people when it exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in 2013.

It has also been designated as a ‘Near Earth Object,’ the term NASA uses to describe “comets and asteroids that have been nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter the Earth’s neighborhood.”

Asteroid 2020 JX is the largest of four space rocks that will fly near Earth on Saturday. Two additional asteroids will sail past on Sunday and NASA says that all six will pass at a safe distance. The closest visitor will be around 900,000 miles from Earth at its closest point.

Astronomers are currently monitoring nearly 2,000 asteroids, comets and other objects that could be a danger to Earth. However, experts have also warned that undetected asteroids could also pose a threat to our planet.

https://www.rt.com

ETH – May 21, 2020

(ETH) – So far in 2020 we have several celestial events transpire. We’ve had three Super Moons in a row, starting with March’s Full Worm Moon, April’s Full Pink Moon, and, as recently reported, May’s peak of the ‘Eta Aquarids’ Meteor Shower took place only days before the Full Flower Moon.

According to The Mind Unleashed, there are plenty more celestial events in store, starting with a partial Penumbral Lunar Eclipse on June 5th and 6th and an Annular Solar Eclipse on June 21st.

This year will have a total of six eclipses, four Lunar, and two Solar Eclipses. The report indicated that Lunar Eclipses will all be partial and the Solar Eclipses will be an Annular Eclipse on June 21st and a Total Eclipse on December 14th.

https://endtimeheadlines.org