On Monday it was announced that a 10-story asteroid barely missed the Earth by about 48,800 miles. Sounds like a lot doesn’t it? But consider for a moment that 48,800 is roughly about twice the distance of the telecommunications satellites that mankind has put into space. Or to put it another more shocking way, only 1/5 the distance to the moon.
Talk about dodging a bullet… a really, really BIG bullet.
Kind of scary how close that was. Some are calling it a cosmic near-miss. Thankfully NASA has the Near-Earth Object Program that identifies such threats in plenty of time for us to decide on an appropriate course of action. What’s that you say? News agencies are reporting that “Astronomers say they didn’t see it coming until Saturday.”
They didn’t see it until Saturday? Wholly crap and hug the wife and kids.
In less than 72 hours from the time of reported discovery it passed by at about 12 miles a second. Not much time to get the affairs all in order is it? No, it isn’t. But it is a great reminder to live life to the fullest and make every moment count.
Now… go hug the family and tell someone you love them.