TO THE MOON, MARS, AND BEYOND: Tiny Asteroid Discovered Just Yesterday “Virtually Certain” to Have Harmlessly Impacted Earth

Tiny Asteroid Discovered Just Yesterday “Virtually Certain” to Have Harmlessly Impacted Earth

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/01/02/asteroid_2014_aa_harmless_impact_over_atlantic_ocean_last_night.html

My reading about the Mars trilogy was interrupted by noticing an asteroid that was just discovered may well have hit Earth.

Did anyone see it?

- LRK -

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http://www.universetoday.com/107680/three-meter-asteroid-hits-earths-atmosphere/

Three-Meter Asteroid Hits Earth’s Atmosphere… Somewhereby

JASON MAJOR on JANUARY 2, 2014

This was very likely the last trip around the Sun for the Earth-crossing asteroid 2014 AA, according to calculations by several teams of astronomers and published online earlier today on the IAU’s Minor Planet Center. Discovered just yesterday by the Catalina Sky Survey, the estimated 3-meter-wide Apollo asteroid was supposed to clear Earth today by a razor-thin margin of about 611 km (380 miles)… but it’s now looking like it didn’t quite make it.

Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/107680/three-meter-asteroid-hits-earths-atmosphere/#ixzz2pIuTgVta
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You may be able see a sketch of the orbit.

- LRK -

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http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=2014+AA&commit=Show&utm_content=buffer226c7&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer

2014 AA

Orbit

Orbit type: Apollo

- LRK -

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More links but not really the point. It was found just before approaching Earth and thought it might skim by.

Even though no pictures of atmosphere entry it is believed it did..

What is a concern is there are many others that are bigger and can do much damage.

Taking pictures of an impact site won'i impress those that in the target zone.

- LRK -

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http://inagist.com/all/418738828367904768/

Asteroid 2014 AA discovered. Flyby Jan 2 at 02:14 UT. Dist: 0.02 LD (0.01 LD from Earth surface). Size: 1-3 m.http://t.co/mTuvQiEAeV

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Back to Red Mars.

Thanks for looking up with me.

- LRK -

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_trilogy

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Plot

Red Mars — Colonization

Red Mars starts in 2026 with the first colonial voyage to Mars aboard the Ares, the largest interplanetary spacecraft ever built (interestingly, from clustered space shuttle external fuel tanks which, instead of incinerating in the atmosphere, have been boosted into orbit until enough had been amassed to build a ship and also used as landing craft) and home to a crew who are to be the first hundred Martian colonists. The mission is a joint Russian-American undertaking, and seventy of the First Hundred are drawn from these countries (except, for example, Michel Duval, a French psychologist assigned to observe their behavior). The book details the trip out, construction of the first settlement on Mars (eventually called Underhill) by Nadia Chernyshevski, as well as establishing colonies on Mars' hollowed out asteroid-moon Phobos, the ever-changing relationships between the colonists, debates among the colonists regarding both the terraforming of the planet and its future relationship to Earth. The two extreme views on terraforming are personified by Saxifrage "Sax" Russell, who believes their very presence on the planet means some level of terraforming has already begun and that it is humanity's obligation to spread life as it is the most scarce thing in the known universe, and Ann Clayborne, who stakes out the position that humankind does not have the right to change entire planets at their will.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Stanley_Robinson

Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American science fiction writer, best known for his award-winning Mars trilogy. Robinson's work has been labeled by reviewers as literary science fiction.^[1]

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The Mars trilogy

This trilogy is Robinson's best-known work. It is an extended work of science fiction that deals with the first settlement of the planet Mars by a group of scientists and engineers. Its three volumes are Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars, the titles of which mark the changes that the planet undergoes over the course of the saga. The tale begins with the first colonists leaving Earth for Mars in 2027 and covers the next 200 years of future history. By the conclusion of the story, Mars is heavily populated and terraformed, with a flourishing and complex political and social dimension.

Many threads of different characters' lives are woven together in the Mars Trilogy. Science, sociology, and politics are all covered in great detail, evolving over the course of the narrative. Robinson's fascination with science and technology is clear, although he balances this with a strong streak of humanity. Robinson's personal interests, including ecological sustainability, sexual dimorphism, and the scientific method, come through strongly.

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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

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