A newly discovered asteroid dubbed the Great Pumpkin will shoot past Earth on Halloween.
The size of four football pitches, the rock will come will come within just 300,000 miles (480,000 km) of Earth. Astronomers will get an excellent opportunity to gather data, capture radar images, and measurements from the passing asteroid. Scientists expect to learn about the asteroid's shape, dimensions, surface features and other characteristics.
Scientists said the fact they did not know the asteroid was meant to come so close until just three weeks ago showed the importance of vigilance.
Normally they rely on expensive robotic space probes to gather information about such rocky bodies.
Small space rocks rain down on Earth constantly, with most disintegrating as they blaze through the atmosphere. In February 2013, a 65-foot-wide (20 m) asteroid broke apart over Chelyabinsk, Russia, shattering windows and damaging buildings. injuring more than 1,000 people.
NASA is working to map potentially dangerous asteroids and comets that pass within 30 million miles (48 million km) of Earth. Source: The Mirror.
Of course, we all know about the asteroid or comet roughly six miles (10 km) in diameter that crashed into what is now Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. That catastrophe about 65 million years ago caused global climate changes that killed off the dinosaurs along with about 75 percent of life that existed at the time.
NASA had better keep a sharp look out.
The size of four football pitches, the rock will come will come within just 300,000 miles (480,000 km) of Earth. Astronomers will get an excellent opportunity to gather data, capture radar images, and measurements from the passing asteroid. Scientists expect to learn about the asteroid's shape, dimensions, surface features and other characteristics.
Scientists said the fact they did not know the asteroid was meant to come so close until just three weeks ago showed the importance of vigilance.
Normally they rely on expensive robotic space probes to gather information about such rocky bodies.
Small space rocks rain down on Earth constantly, with most disintegrating as they blaze through the atmosphere. In February 2013, a 65-foot-wide (20 m) asteroid broke apart over Chelyabinsk, Russia, shattering windows and damaging buildings. injuring more than 1,000 people.
NASA is working to map potentially dangerous asteroids and comets that pass within 30 million miles (48 million km) of Earth. Source: The Mirror.
Of course, we all know about the asteroid or comet roughly six miles (10 km) in diameter that crashed into what is now Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. That catastrophe about 65 million years ago caused global climate changes that killed off the dinosaurs along with about 75 percent of life that existed at the time.
NASA had better keep a sharp look out.
You might not be aware of the dystopian Higher Ground series I wrote with a co-author Edith Parzefall. They are based on the premise of an asteroid strike in 2027. At the beginning of every novel, an excerpt of a diary hints at events.
Here's a taster for you:
Journal of Tallulah McBride
March 23, 2027.
As the world ends, I've assembled my vellum and proper ink and pen. Vellum lasts longer than paper. I don't think anyone will survive the flood and devastation. The water is rising higher all the time and I haven't seen the sun for forty-eight hours. No light penetrates my room. I'm writing by candlelight. I'm not sure why I'm writing except that it might help me get a grip on what happened. And just maybe, someone will survive and read this journal.
Corn World. Britland.
Far in the future after the great flood.
Chapter 1
On the bed next to her mother, Cerridwen snuggled further into her sleeping furs. Wind roared over the town, and rains lashed against the thick wooden walls of the house nestled half way down a steep slope above the quiet village. Built in the before times when men knew how to construct things properly, the house resisted continual rain. A lightning flash lit up the small room. Thunder roared. In the cot beside her, Mother whimpered and turned in her sleep.
Cerridwen concentrated on creaking noises followed by a thud. A tree struck by lightning? Aware of possible danger, she bolted upright. Her brother Ivan had left before sunrise with a group of Red Roof men to hunt deer in the first light. She hoped for their safe return.
A mighty growl jarred her out of her drowsiness. What could it be? Not thunder. The sound lasted too long and grew into a rumble.
You can see all five books at an Amazon near you. I noticed the UK site is offering the paperback at the same price as the e-book right now, £3.48.
Universal links for Amazon books:
Wind Over Troubled Waters: http://bookgoodies.com/a/B007X57XMS
Knights in Dark Leather: http://bookgoodies.com/a/B00A3EYR0M
Golden Submarine: http://bookgoodies.com/a/B00C8T4O0I
Long Doom Calling: http://bookgoodies.com/a/B00DT6QHFO
Seaweed Ribbons: http://bookgoodies.com/a/B00Q3IVJ1M
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