Very small asteroid passed closer than some satellites

Small Asteroid Passes Between Satellites and Earth
Wed Dec 22, 2:11 PM ET
Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
SPACE.com

Astronomers spotted an asteroid this week after it had flown past Earth on a course that took it so close to the planet it was below the orbits of some satellites.

The space rock was relatively small, however, and would not have posed any danger had it plunged into the atmosphere.

The object, named 2004 YD5, was about 16 feet (5 meters) wide, though that's a rough estimate based on its distance and assumed reflectivity. Had it entered the atmosphere, it would have exploded high up, experts figure.

Satellite territory

The asteroid passed just under the orbits of geostationary satellites, which at 22,300 miles (36,000 kilometers) altitude are the highest manmade objects circling Earth. Most other satellites, along with the International Space Station (news - web sites), circle the planet at just a few hundred miles up.

2004 YD5 is the second closest pass of an asteroid ever observed by telescope, according to the Asteroid/Comet Connection, a web site that monitors space rock discoveries. The closest involved a rock that flew by last March and was not announced until August.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/space/20041222/sc_space/smallasteroidpassesbetweensatellitesandearth&e=4&ncid=

"you're doomed".

In order to do any major, widespread damage, a big space rock has to be at least 30m in diameter. At least.

The one that smacked into the Yucatan and (some say) killed off the dinosaurs was somewhere between 8-10 km in diameter--which is something like if Mt. Everest, travelling at approx. 50,000 mph, rammed itself into the Gulf of Mexico. It made a huge fricking crater--about 160 km wide, IIRC.

So for meteors that small, YD probably stands for "you dink" (directed at the asteroid, not us).

http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/investigations/es2506/es2506page08.cfm?chapter_no=investigation
and effects:
http://www4.tpg.com.au/users/horsts/paine_indochina.pdf (at the end).
Chicxulub was 100,000,000 MT, Shoemaker-Levy twice as much.

I bet they look a lot bigger when they get closer.

I remember reading a Faux news story last week about people in Indonesia thinking they saw a big fireball in the sky. It was on the 18th, I believe.

I wonder if it's related.