Skywatch

[Henry Hawk]

A newfound asteroid that may be the size of three football fields will whiz  by Earth Thursday Sept. 13, and you can watch the close encounter live online.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2012/09/13/asteroid-flies-by-earth-thursday-how-to-watch-online/?intcmp=features#ixzz26MKgMcxI

[Locutus]

Won't be a very good day when one of these "newly discovered" asteroids fails to safely pass by. 

[Henry Hawk]

Won't be a very good day when one of these "newly discovered" asteroids fails to safely pass by. 

could you imagine, if a rock the sized of three football fields crashed into NY City?

[Locutus]

could you imagine, if a rock the sized of three football fields crashed into NY City?

Like I said, won't be a very nice day.  And it's not like the potential isn't there.  These things fly by routinely.  The solar system is a shooting gallery, and one of our near neighbors couldn't get out of the way back in July of 1994.  It's happened to the Earth before, and it'll most likely happen again at some point.

[libby]

A  relatively small "space rock" crashed into a dentist's office near my home not too long ago. I always wished one would fall right where I could see it and pick it up. (Obviously I don't want a big one to come crashing into my house.)

[Locutus]

A  relatively small "space rock" crashed into a dentist's office near my home not too long ago. I always wished one would fall right where I could see it and pick it up. (Obviously I don't want a big one to come crashing into my house.)

Really?  How did you know it was a space rock?  Newspaper?

[followsthewolf]

A  relatively small "space rock" crashed into a dentist's office near my home not too long ago. I always wished one would fall right where I could see it and pick it up. (Obviously I don't want a big one to come crashing into my house.)

If it's the right kind of rock, it can have my house, and welcome to it!!!

[Palehorse]

[Palehorse]

And our resident math whiz and space guy is the first amongst us to bust this myth. . . (Locutus) 

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/08/10/an-unreal-mars-skyline/

[Locutus]

And our resident math whiz and space guy is the first amongst us to bust this myth. . . (Locutus) 

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/08/10/an-unreal-mars-skyline/

Pretty soon, that'll land in "me's" inbox. 

[followsthewolf]

And she'll claim it is real.

And when you cite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, she'll still claim it is true.

Then, when you have some back-and-forth, she'll make some half-assed comment about your integrity.

Finally, when you call her on the lie and the snark, she'll ask why she should apologize for anything.

Absolutely classic stunted emotional and intellectual growth.

[Locutus]

I was having a sidebar conversation about that sort of thing FTW.  Interesting thing about that is, it's exactly how all of those memes that end up in various people's inboxes start.  Somebody posts something that's false, especially on FaceBook, and then all of their friends see it.  If any of them like it enough, they post it themselves, whether true or not.  Then all of the friends of friends see it, and the cycle repeats.  Pretty soon, you have exponential propagation of the falsehood. 

The Internet is a powerful thing with lots of facts and information to which we can avail ourselves.  However, there's lots of flotsam commingled in between.  Discernment is crucial.  Unfortunately, some are lacking in that department. 

[Palehorse]

Even George Takei was taken by that "you are here" photo. . . 

[followsthewolf]

I was having a sidebar conversation about that sort of thing FTW.  Interesting thing about that is, it's exactly how all of those memes that end up in various people's inboxes start.  Somebody posts something that's false, especially on FaceBook, and then all of their friends see it.  If any of them like it enough, they post it themselves, whether true or not.  Then all of the friends of friends see it, and the cycle repeats.  Pretty soon, you have exponential propagation of the falsehood. 

The Internet is a powerful thing with lots of facts and information to which we can avail ourselves.  However, there's lots of flotsam commingled in between.  Discernment is crucial.  Unfortunately, some are lacking in that department.

Well said, Locutus -- and absolutely true.

Except that some claim of fatigue or inattention will be the reason for the gaffe.

Then, when that doesn't work, the claimant will still try to spin it to try to make at least part of the total falsehood seem to be true.

[libby]

Really?  How did you know it was a space rock?  Newspaper?

It got a lot of local attention at the time. It hit so close to my home that a few more miles and I would've gotten my wish!  Here's something from the Baltimore (Maryland) Sun, minus the long list of comments.

The Baltimore Sun > Weather > Maryland Weather
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January 20, 2010
Monday's meteor fell on Lorton, Va. doctors' office

A Washington DC television station is reporting an apparent meteorite fall in Lorton, Va. The space rock, which has been taken to the Smithsonian Institution, crashed through the roof of a doctor's office at around 5:45 p.m. on Monday, narrowly missing patients and staff.

NOTE: An earlier version of this post erroneously referred to the office as a dental office. Although there is a dental office in the building, the doctors who found the meteorite are in a family medical practice. The Weatherblog regrets the error.

The reported time of the fall matches closely the time that scores of people from New Jersey to southern Virginia reported they saw a bright meteor fall, leaving a writhing smoke trail in the twilight sky. The Baltimore Sun's WeatherBlog has received more than 100 reports of the fall from observers.

The story on the Web site of WUSA9 in Washington says the mango-sized meteorite crashed through the roof and acoustical tiles of the Williamsburg Square Family Practice office in Lorton. Dr. Frank Ciampi told the station the crash was so loud he thought bookshelves had toppled.

Experts at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, interviewed by the station, confirmed the fractured meteorite was a stony "chondrite" meteorite, with a dark fusion crust formed by the heat of its passage through the atmosphere.

Professional meteorite hunter Steve Arnold says he is on his way to Virginia. "I hope to find some other pieces," he said in email to the WeatherBlog. Arnold, TV's "Meteorite Man," also took part in the apparently unsuccessful hunt for fragments of the meteor that fell somewhere along the Mason-Dixon line north of Baltimore last July 6. That fall was accompanied by a sonic boom that startled residents in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

The Smithsonian museum's Linda Welzenbach said the Lorton meteorite is believed to be only the fourth confirmed meteorite fall in Virginia's history.

UPDATE: Meteorite hunters have been using readers' comments to the WeatherBlog to calculate the entry path of the meteorite. They've been scouring the comments, especially, for descriptions of the altitude and angle of the meteor's arrival last Monday evening. Not everyone included that information in their comments. There's still time. Here's a note I received Monday, Jan. 25 from Rob Matson. You can contact him directly at Robert.d.matson@saic.com :

Baltimore Sun, 501 N. Calvert Street, P.O. Box 1377, Baltimore, MD 21278