Here it comes, tin hat time

[The-Crow]

Asteroid YU55 is about to flyby on Tuesday night closer than the Moon.

News stories have kept it quiet to avoid panic but tomorrow night it happens.

The mass of the earth is already being affected as reported today that the standard One kilogram weight has changed

Good luck everyone

Did anyone see The Fifth Element. Hope Bruce Willis ready

[outragous76]

So am I Lighter or heavier today? Need to know if the scales are going to boost morale!

[The-Crow]

Not sure how much lighter you will be tomorrow

The boffins are baffled LOL

[The-Crow]

Nasa say it will miss us

but they also said its gravity will not affect us, well they got that bit wrong, lol

NASA is certain that it will miss us, and “the gravitational influence of the asteroid will have no detectable effect on anything here on Earth, including our planet’s tides or tectonic plates”.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/11/asteroid-2005-yu55/

[The-Crow]

Its only when it slows down and hovers over Washington that we should worry

[smashedagain]

pmsl....you dont post anything for ages and when you do its talented stuff. Tom i'm so pleased you are so good at the pokers but refuse to get involved in p.h.a. shite

[kinboshi]

Nasa say it will miss us

but they also said its gravity will not affect us, well they got that bit wrong, lol

NASA is certain that it will miss us, and “the gravitational influence of the asteroid will have no detectable effect on anything here on Earth, including our planet’s tides or tectonic plates”.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/11/asteroid-2005-yu55/

Why have they got it wrong?  It's the size of an aircraft carrier - so it will have the same gravitational pull as an...aircraft carrier.  We have quite a few aircraft carriers on earth and as one comes into port it doesn't have any noticeable gravitational affect on any locals.

[gatso]

'same bulk as a nuclear aircraft carrier'

lol comedy scaremongering

[Royal Flush]

lol was going to say not sure how something so small can adjust the gravitational pull, obv weighs more than an aircraft carrier but a chnunk less then a small mountain

[kinboshi]

Mass of moon = 7.347 x 10²² kg = 73,470,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg

Mass of the asteroid = 55,000,000,000 kg


If you do the maths, the gravitational effect on the moon's orbit will be less than 500 nanometres (i.e. unobservable).

[kinboshi]

lol was going to say not sure how something so small can adjust the gravitational pull, obv weighs more than an aircraft carrier but a chnunk less then a small mountain

Yeah, a big aircraft carrier only weighs 100,000,000 kg

[The-Crow]

the Nimitz super carrier does weigh 100,000 tons. but the YU55 asteroid has not been weighed yet. They only know how long it is .

The Nimitz-class supercarriers are a class of ten nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in service with the United States Navy. With an overall length of 1,092 ft (333 m) and full-load displacements of over 100,000 long tons,[1] they are the largest capital ships in the world.

[titaniumbean]

Good fred. Feel like i'm learning alot.

[rex008]

Asteroid YU55 is about to flyby on Tuesday night closer than the Moon.

News stories have kept it quiet to avoid panic but tomorrow night it happens.

The mass of the earth is already being affected as reported today that the standard One kilogram weight mass has changed

Good luck everyone

Did anyone see The Fifth Element. Hope Bruce Willis ready

fyp. And no, it hasn't.

I probably exert more gravitational force on you than the asteroid is at the moment.

In fact I've just calculated that I exert more gravitational force on anything within 15km of me than the asteroid ever will. I weigh about 478 million times less than asteroid. Gravity is an inverse-square-of-distance force, square root of 478m is about 20000. Asteroid approaching about 300000km, 300000/20000 = 15km. All numbers approx, but you get my point . Oh, and the aircraft carrier will exert same gravity as asteroid at 400km or thereabouts.

[rex008]

Well, I say it hasn't, but the standard kilogram has been changing mass since it was created. There are many many articles about it.

None have anything to do with an approaching asteroid.

My sig is feeling entirely appropriate in this thread.