Asteroid to come within 8,000 miles of earth on Monday - Catholic Online

In the Bruce Willis Action-Adventure science fiction film "Armageddon," the world was given 12 days in which to deal with an asteroid on a collision course with earth. The brave crew was able to fly aboard on said asteroid and blow it up with a bomb. Now, an asteroid will come precariously close to the earth - 8,000 miles - and the world was only given four days notice. Why?

The asteroid will be such a narrow miss that astronomers in the Southern Hemisphere should be able to spot the flyby with fairly modest telescopes.

The asteroid will be such a narrow miss that astronomers in the Southern Hemisphere should be able to spot the flyby with fairly modest telescopes.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Astronomer Mark Thompson says that the Near-Earth asteroid, called 2011 MD will pass so close to Earth on Monday that its orbital path will be altered by the gravitational pull of our planet.

The asteroid will be such a narrow miss that astronomers in the Southern Hemisphere should be able to spot the flyby with fairly modest telescopes.

Working from their base in New Mexico, the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research project, or LINEAR team uses automated one-meter ground based telescopes to probe the skies for so-called near-Earth object threats. "The discovery of 2011 MD this past Wednesday goes to show that we need to get better at identifying potential asteroid threats, investing more money and time into projects like LINEAR. The more time we have, the greater chance there is of us being able to do something about it," Thompson says.

Thompson points out that near-Earth objects, or NEOs are more common than you think with around 8,000 reported. "This newly discovered interplanetary interloper is thought to measure no more than 20 meters wide, making it no real threat -- but it's a warning all the same."

Thompson theorizes that if "2011 MD did hit us, then it would more than likely break up in the atmosphere and give us an amazing display of fireballs and meteors. As it turns out, it will sail harmlessly by at a . close distance of only 7,500 miles, 32 times closer than the moon, and closer than some geosynchronous satellites.

"It will get so close to the Earth that the asteroid's trajectory will be altered by our planet's gravitational field."

"We are certain that it will miss us, but if it did enter the atmosphere, an asteroid this size would mostly burn up in a brilliant fireball, possibly scattering a few meteorites," UK asteroid expert Emily Baldwin says.

MD 2011's closest approach will occur on Monday, June 27 at 13:30 UTC somewhere over the South Atlantic Ocean. Its visibility will be severely limited, but amateur astronomers in Australia and New Zealand should be able to track 2011 MD in the night sky just before closest approach.