Asteroid’s near-miss is a huge wake-up call

Published July 23, 2019 7:14pm ET



Earlier this month, obscured in all the fighting over President Trump’s tweets, Iran’s seizure of a British tanker, and the emergency on the border, most of America missed the news that we all got a reprieve from a 100-foot-wide space rock. The rock in question is known as 2006 QV89, and while the reprieve is nice, there’s something to keep in mind: We still have no clue where it is.

The reprieve came because we didn’t see the asteroid where it would have been had the thing been on a collision course. All that we have in terms of figuring out this thing’s location is 10 days of tracking data going back to when we found that rock 13 years ago. Even though this asteroid is a baby in terms of size, depending on density, it could have had an impact with the force of a 550-kiloton nuclear warhead according to Purdue University’s Impact Earth calculator.

Already a print subscriber? Click here to login/register your account

Trusted reporting.Unlimited access.

Subscribe for full access to Washington Examiner coverage, expert political analysis, and subscriber-only journalism.

Get Unlimited Access

Already a member? Log in

Cancel anytime.


Tag:

NASA