A craggy, 1,300-foot wide bit of space rock missed Earth tonight in the closest encounter by such a massive space rock in more than three decades.
Countless asteroids, gravity wells and other celestial bodies had shaped its course that could have turned this near miss into a disaster, said Ron Dantowitz, director of the Clay Center Observatory in Brookline, Mass.
"Everything shapes its course," Datowitz told FoxNews.com, even the Earth and moon that asteroid 2005 YU55 breezed past at 6:28 p.m. EST Tuesday, Nov. 8. At that point, the space rock was traveling at about 29,000 mph ... a whopping 8 miles per second. [FOX]
One of the strongest storms to hit western Alaska in nearly 40 years battered coastal communities Wednesday with snow and hurricane-force winds, knocking out power, ripping up roofs and forcing some residents to board up their windows and seek higher ground.
As the storm churned the Bering Sea, residents and emergency responders braced for a possible surge of sea water into already soaked villages along the coast.
"People out there are used to extreme weather, but this is not a normal storm," said Jeremy Zidek, spokesman for the state's emergency management agency. "This is of a magnitude that can be a storm of record, extremely dangerous, and the state is treating it as such."
It’s well known that a large meteorite hitting the Earth would not be good news, as it would cause earthquakes, tsunamis and firestorms.
However, scientists have created a new model for predicting the impact of such collisions that shows the devastation wouldn’t be anywhere near as severe as previously thought.
Scientists from the University of Munich argue that previous predictions of impact damage assume the Earth is smooth and spherical – but it’s actually elliptical with huge peaks and troughs, which would help to diffuse the resulting seismic waves.
An extremely dangerous storm is slicing toward northwestern Alaska and is expected to bring blizzard conditions and hurricane-strength winds to the state's west coast. The storm, which formed from a mix of air masses over an area of ocean prone to spinning up strong storms, could be bigger than anything ever seen in the 49th state, the National Weather Service warned.
This morning (Nov. 8) the storm was about 600 miles (965 kilometers) southwest of St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. According to the forecast from the NWS office in Fairbanks, Alaska, it was to sweep into Russia's Chukotsk Peninsula tonight and move into the northwestern Chukchi Sea.
"This will be extremely dangerous and life-threatening storm of an epic magnitude rarely experienced," read a statement from the NWS. "All people in the area should take precautions to safeguard their lives and property." [LS]
Initial reports from towns along Alaska's northwest coast early Wednesday indicated that a massive Bering Sea storm had tossed rocks onto roads, eroded beaches and blown off roofs - and that's before water surges expected to peak Wednesday night.
In Nome, the largest town with 3,600 residents, the main street was closed due to rock and log debris. Residents were told to stay off streets due to live wires from downed power lines, and a highway was feared cut by beach erosion.
Roofs were also blown away overnight, when the height of snow and hurricane-force winds hit at about 2 a.m.
"Waves were hitting Front Street since after 1 a.m.," Nome resident Penny Frieda Olanna posted on Facebook. "We could see the waves flying and our window is covered in sleet, the waves are splashing high."
Skywatchers hoping to glimpse a huge asteroid as it flies close by Earth Tuesday will need the right equipment - and a little bit of luck - to spot the faint and fast-moving space rock in telescopes, scientists say.
The interloping space rock, called asteroid 2005 YU55, will pass between Earth and the orbit of the moon on Tuesday, but does not pose a threat to our planet, NASA scientists have said. The asteroid is about the size of an aircraft carrier, spanning about 1,300 feet (400 meters), and is the largest space rock to have a close encounter with Earth with advance notice in 35 years.
Asteroid 2005 YU55 is expected to pass closest to Earth at a range of about 201,700 miles (324,600 kilometers) on Tuesday at 6:28 p.m. EST. The average distance between the moon and Earth is about 238,854 miles (384,399 km). [MSNBC]
Alaska is facing a life threatening winter storm with near hurricane force winds, more than a foot of snow and severe coastal flooding, the National Weather Service says.
"This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening storm which will be one of the worst on record over the Bering Sea and the west coast," NWS forecasters said in a bulletin Monday afternoon.
The storm was about 600 miles southwest of Shemya in the far western Aleutian Islands on Monday afternoon and was expected to move over the Bering Sea toward Alaska's west coast on Tuesday.
Thousands of times every day, drilling deep underground causes the earth to tremble. But don't blame the surprise flurry of earthquakes in Oklahoma on man's thirst for oil and gas, experts say.
The weekend quakes were far stronger than the puny tremors from drilling - especially the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing. The weekend quakes didn't have the mark of man. They were a force of nature.
Hydraulic fracturing, called fracking, involves injecting millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals deep underground to break up rock. While that may sound like it could cause an earthquake, experts say the process doesn't pack nearly the punch of even a moderate earthquake.
The magnitude-5.6 quake that rocked Oklahoma three miles underground had the power of 3,800 tons of TNT, which is nearly 2,000 times stronger than the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
A slow-moving low pressure system over central southern parts of the Mediterranean brought heavy rain and flooding to parts of North Africa on Monday last week. Some 147mm was recorded at Zaghouan Magrane in northern Tunisia in the 12 hours up to 7am on Monday.
The same depression created a potent set up last Friday as southern France and northern Italy became the focus of widespread heavy rain and severe thunderstorms. Torrential rain, intensified by the mountains, resulted in water overpowering the natural drainage systems. Passo dei Giovi, about 20 miles north of Genoa, recorded 109mm in the 12 hours to 7pm on Friday, and this intense rainfall caused flash flooding downstream in Genoa as the river banks failed to contain the rising water. During the same period, La Grande-Combe in the Gard department of southern France recorded 95mm, while Barnas in Ardèche measured 271mm in the 36 hours up to 7am on Saturday. [guardian]
A huge asteroid's close approach to Earth Tuesday reinforces that we live in a cosmic shooting gallery, and we can't just sit around waiting to get hit again, experts say.
Asteroid 2005 YU55, which is the size of an aircraft carrier, will zip within the moon's orbit tomorrow, but it poses no danger of hitting us for the foreseeable future. Eventually, however, one of its big space rock cousins will barrel straight toward Earth, as asteroids have done millions of times throughout our planet's history.
If we want to avoid going the way of the dinosaurs, which were wiped out by an asteroid strike 65 million years ago, we're going to have to deflect a killer space rock someday, researchers say. Fortunately, we know how to do it. [MSNBC]
A new study at the the University of Arizona's Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research has revealed a previously unknown multi-decade drought period in the second century A.D. The findings give evidence that extended periods of aridity have occurred at intervals throughout our past.
Almost 900 years ago, in the mid-12th century, the southwestern U.S. was in the middle of a multi-decade megadrought. It was the most recent extended period of severe drought known for this region. But it was not the first.
The second century A.D. saw an extended dry period of more than 100 years characterized by a multi-decade drought lasting nearly 50 years, says a new study from scientists at the University of Arizona. [sciday]
Ships ordered away from port and planes banned from flying over El Hierro
Sea of brown magma bubbling up just off the coast
Homes have been evacuated and roads closed on the southern-most Canary Island following a government-issued warning about a possible volcanic eruption.
The southern tip of El Hierro was shaken by a 4.3-magnitude quake late on Saturday as an underwater volcano just off the coast started spewing matter some 60ft into the air.
The island, which has 500 volcanic cones, has experienced more than 10,000 tremors in the past four months. Renewed fears of an eruption came as vast quantities of magma - the molten rock from just under the earth's crust - began bubbling into the sea off the port of La Restinga. [guardian]
The White House said Monday that there is no evidence of aliens making their presence known on Earth, but it has not given up on the search for extraterrestrial life.
A petition submitted through the White House's "We the People" project -- which lets anyone submit a petition requesting government action -- asked for a formal acknowledgment of "an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race."
Unfortunately for those who want to believe, the White House was unable to do so.
"The US government has no evidence that any life exists outside our planet, or that an extraterrestrial presence has contacted or engaged any member of the human race," said Phil Larson, who works on policy and communications for the White House's Office of Science & Technology Policy, in response to the petition Monday. [FOX]
Astronomers around the world have readied their telescopes to catch a glimpse of a speeding ball of rock that will hurtle past the Earth on Tuesday night.
Scientists say the asteroid, which is about a quarter of a mile wide, will pass inside the moon's orbit and come within 198,000 miles (319,000km) of Earth at 23.28GMT. This is the closest a tracked object this size has come to the planet.
Nasa calculates the 400-metre (1,312ft) wide asteroid, known as 2005 YU55, has roughly has a one in 10 million chance of hitting Earth in the next century. Were it to strike, the collision would unleash the equivalent of several thousand megatonnes of TNT. [guardian]
The weekend's earthquake swarm continues with 14 aftershocks recorded Sunday morning in Oklahoma. The latest aftershock was magnitude of 3.3 recorded at 12:26 p.m. located 10 miles northeast of Shawnee.
These following the strongest quake in the state's history - one with a magnitude of 5.6 -which rocked the stands at the Oklahoma State University game at 10:53 Saturday night.
It could be felt throughout the state and in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, northern Texas and some parts of Illinois and Wisconsin, said geophysicist Jessica Turner at the U.S. Geological Survey.
There were no reports in the hours after the quakes of any severe injuries or severe damage.
The magnitude 5.6 earthquake in Oklahoma on Saturday night felt was as far as Wisconsin, U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Jill McCarthy said. [NewsOK]
Eight quakes reported in 24 hours in Oklahoma
“We have had eight recorded earthquakes (in Oklahoma) in the past 24 hours or so,” she said.
A 4.7 magnitude temblor was reported early Saturday, followed by the 5.6 magnitude earthquake just before 11 p.m., which was the strongest in state history. LINK
Skywatchers hoping to be dazzled by this month's meteor showers may be disappointed to hear that bright moonlight could steal the show.
November marks the return of the annual Taurid and Leonid meteor showers, and while the Leonids have typically been one of the more stunning light shows of the year, both showers could be more subdued this year because of a bright moon, said Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
"The moon is going to mess with the meteor showers this month, just like it has messed with a lot of meteor showers this year," Cooke told Space.com. "That's good for lunar observers, but not for meteor showers." [MSNBC]
A major meteorite impact on Earth could spell doomsday - or not. To better predict what could be in store if a giant space rock slammed into our planet, scientists have built a new model to simulate the seismic fallout from such an event.
The model predicts how seismic waves would spread through Earth after a meteorite collision. It's the first to take into account the planet's elliptical shape, surface features and ocean depths. In contrast, previous models have assumed Earth is perfectly spherical and featureless, with nothing to disrupt a meteorite's impact.
"After a meteorite impact, seismic waves travel outward across the Earth's surface like after a stone is thrown in water," research leader Matthias Meschede of the University of Munich said in a statement. "For the Earth, these calculations are usually made using a smooth, perfect sphere model, but we found that the surface features of a planet or a moon have a huge effect on the aftershock a large meteorite will have, so it's extremely important to take those into account."
