This image shows asteroid 2012 DA14 and the Eta Carinae Nebula, with the white box highlighting the asteroid’s path. The image was taken using a 3″ refractor equipped with a color CCD camera. The telescope is located at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia and is maintained and owned by iTelescope.net.
Image credit: NASA/MSFC/Aaron Kingery
beatiful pic. has the asteroid left our orbit? he passed saftetly?
The asteroid 2012 DA14 was expected to pass above Indian Ocean on 14 February 2013. The meteor, which fell in Russia on 13 February 2013, was not expected. Most scientists have expressed that the befallen meteor was not related to the expected asteroid and it was only a coincidence that these two events happened almost concurrently.
If the expected asteroid 2012 DA14 were not same as the meteor fallen in Russia, scientists would have observed the asteroid somewhere nearby its expected location sometime on its expected day. However, there was no solid observation of such an event. If the meteor fallen in Russia were not same as the expected asteroid, scientists would have observed the meteor long before its falling. However, there was no observation of such an event. Based on this, it is reasonable to conjecture that the befallen meteor is same as the expected asteroid.
The asteroid 2012 DA14 was expected to travel from north to south. The befallen meteor traveled from south to north. Based on this difference in their directions, scientists have ruled out any relation between the two. However, as explained below, this difference in their directions does not prove that they are different objects.
Even though the asteroid was tiny and moving at a great speed, the gravitational force between the Earth and the asteroid can change the asteroid’s trajectory. The probability of such a change in the asteroid’s trajectory can be quite significant. It is likely that the duration and magnitude of such a change were too small to be picked up by today’s computational resources.
It is possible that when the asteroid entered into the Earth’s vicinity, it got a sudden gyroscopic deflection by the Earth’s rotation and its speed. This gyroscopic deflection changed its direction, as observed in the befallen meteor.
Because of this change in direction, the asteroid got a great frictional resistance as it moved further into the Earth’s vicinity. This friction chipped off its outer layers and reduced its size and mass. This explains why the befallen meteor was smaller than the expected asteroid.
It was possible for the asteroid to carry some electrically charged layer and a resultant magnetism. This magnetism and the Earth’s magnetism could have created an attractive force, in addition to the gravitational drift.
Based on this, it is logical to state that the meteor fallen in Russia was same as and/or a byproduct of the expected asteroid 2012 DA14.
this asteriod da 14 was very dangerous.it just passed through our earth.i wanted to know the speed of this asteriod
such false opinions (I am referring to the earlier comment and not to the NASA blog post, obviously) should not be posted on this site