END OF WORLD! #Synod15 or Globe Killing Asteroid?

We don’t know the time or place, but we will on day die and face our Judge.

I saw this at NASA after a priest friend alerted me to it.  He went to confession … I’m just sayin’.

At Express I saw this:

Shock as NASA confirms asteroid TWO MILES wide will pass close to Earth TOMORROW

A HUGE asteroid measuring almost two miles across will skim past Earth tomorrow, Nasa has confirmed.

[What could go wrong?]

It should fly safely past earth, but astronomers are keeping a close eye on 86666 (2000 FL10) which, according to NASA, will be one of the biggest to pass close to our planet in recent times.

The giant lump of rock is currently hurtling through space at 40,000 miles an hour. The asteroid’s exact size is still unclear though it is estimated to be between 0.7miles metres and 1.6 miles wide – more than 15 times bigger than other asteroids currently on Nasa’s radar.

A collision would be nothing short of catastrophic with the rock fragment thought to be around a quarter of the size of Mount Everest.

Nasa has released an animated projection of the asteroid’s path, which you can watch below. 86666 appears from the top left of the screen as it nears Earth’s orbit.

[…]

Everyone… for the love of God…

GO TO CONFESSION!

Synod Fathers… for the love of God…

GO TO CONFESSION!

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in Four Last Things, Global Killer Asteroid Questions, GO TO CONFESSION, Look! Up in the sky!. Bookmark the permalink.

16 Comments

  1. APX says:

    Funny, I briefly saw something small and flaming fly through the sky on my way into work early morning the other day and thought to myself, “I wonder if that was debris from a giant killer asteroid that no one is telling us about”.

  2. pseudomodo says:

    Way too many sixes in that rock!!

  3. iamlucky13 says:

    I don’t know the news source Express, but given that it’s in the UK, odds are low that it’s any better in general than most of the US media. If this article is any indication, Express is actually quite a bit worse than most.

    There is no shock. Guess what that funny name the asteroid is given means – 2000 FL10: it was discovered 15 years ago (actually 16 years ago, but they didn’t have enough data to pin down the orbit for another year). The media didn’t even catch on until it neared the top of the NASA NEO upcoming close approach list, at which point somebody said, “Oh, this one is over a mile across. Let’s misleadingly imply to people it might hit earth in order to get them to read our articles so we can get more ad revenue.”

    But what if it’s true? What if 2000 FL10 does hit earth?

    Well, let’s start by asking why we would think it would hit earth. The most obvious answer is if the astronomers who have the resources and education to observe asteroids accurately enough to calculate impact risks thought it would, or even might. What does NASA say:
    http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=86666;orb=1;old=0;cov=0;log=0;cad=1#cad

    The closest it will get to earth is 0.169 the distance between the earth and sun, or roughly 15.7 million miles. In other words, the closest it will get is 65 times as far away as the moon.

    In a nutshell, there is no credible expectation 2000 FL10 will hit the earth. I could continue on the “what if it does” speculation, but there’s no point. Of course, you still can and should go to confession. There’s a lot of things far more likely to kill you than an asteroid impact, especially bad drivers, but also lightning, and even bowling balls.

    For the curious, currently the asteroid that NASA believes presents the largest potential impact risk is called 2009 FD. It is estimated as having a roughly 1 in 400 chance of hitting the earth in the year 2185. With a diameter 1/3 of a mile across, it’s plenty large enough to cause regional damage if it hit land. However, the relatively high risk calculation is largely due to uncertainty in what its actual orbit will be in 2185. NASA thinks it will pass roughly 700,000 miles away, but they won’t be able to pin that down for certain until 2185 gets a little closer.

    In the nearer term, the object most likely to hit the earth appears to be 2009 JF1, which is estimated to have a 1 in 4000 chance of hitting the earth in 2022. At about 40 feet across, it is similar in size to the Chelyabinsk meteor that was widely caught on camera and caused widespread damage but no deaths in Russia 2 years ago.

  4. Packrraat says:

    I have lots of other things to worry about tomorrow than whether or not an asteroid will put an end to my life. For instance, are we going to Front Royal to look at a house or to Annapolis to see our new granddaughter? Or can we fit in both occasions? Those two are of much greater significance. And are much more likely to happen. And, if I die, then I’ll go see God face-to-face. God willing, of course.

  5. Mercyknight says:

    “Thankfully despite Nasa labelling it a ‘near-Earth event’ 86666 is several million miles away and unlikely to hit Earth.”

    As opposed to, “won’t hit earth.”

    Just sayin’ ;-)

  6. Will D. says:

    “iamlucky13”: your entire comment should be bronzed and put on display in the Hall of Fame. Thank you for the level-headed analysis.

  7. Maltese says:

    @iamlucky13, unfortunately nobody saw the Chelyabinsk meteor (cir. 2012)–not NASA, not amateur astronomers, no one. Fortunately, Russians all have dash-cams, which caught amazing footage of it, and it did cause damage and non-lethal injuries. It was mostly rock (as opposed to iron), so it mostly disintegrated in our atmosphere–BUT, what if it was mostly iron? It would have caused mass-casualties. The point being, although 86666 won’t hit us, something surely will in the future.

  8. tskrobola says:

    iamlucky13: beautiful post….”bowling balls”…. :)

  9. Everyone… don’t miss the point.

    GO TO CONFESSION!

  10. tskrobola says:

    Father: sorry…you’re right of course…the asteroid could be a car wreck or a heart attack…I try to frequent confession at least 2 or 3 times per month. I’ll be there tomorrow, you bet your asteroid! :)

  11. YoungLatinMassGuy says:

    I went to Confession last week.

    I also have contacts in NASA, and none of them are worried about this at all.

    Also, the majority of the rocks that hit the Earth end up in the Ocean. Several times per year at most we get a small hiroshima-level explosion from an impact in the Ocean. No one notices because… The Ocean is really, really, really, really, really, really BIG. Sooner or later one of those rocks is gonna hit us. A few years back a rock hit near a town in Russia. They got it on video, dash-cams and security videos, it lit up the sky like a second sun. It also blasted out all the windows in the town, and put a bunch of people in the hospital.

    Cheap Access to Space is NEEDED. Desperately.

  12. Gerard Plourde says:

    The true point, as Fr. Z states is that we know not the day nor the hour. Our end is not dependent on broad catastophic events (as flattering to our egos as that may be). More likely, and with far less warning, is the heart attack, the auto accident, the anyeurism. We should always pray that we not be taken unawares. The comforting thought is that we are always in the holy Presence of God, who loves and offers every opportunity to repent and surrender ourselves to Him.

  13. power4350 says:

    Yes we all must certainly go to confession, and we all must go frequently for we do not know the day nor the hour. However, while we may be witnessing the great apostasy #Synod15 , there are other events that Sacred Scripture tells us we must witness before we can be wiped off the face of the Earth. We may have a few boxes ticked, the scarlet beast may indeed be getting drunk on the blood of the saints, but we have not seen the “man of sin” who will come with signs and wonders to deceive even the elect should not those (these) days be shortened. This isn’t the end, but we must all go to confession, Holy Mass and pray the rosary frequently… Lest we be deceived.

  14. jacobi says:

    I presume NASA detected it at some 2 Million miles.

    Their margin of error (as with most calculations including the weather, the stock market, employment etc., – and the end of the World ) ) is probably +/- 1.5 %.

    That means it could strike direct, or miss by 2 M / .o125 = 25, ooo miles. Is that right? I am disnumerate you see!

    Nevertheless, I shall go to Confession.

  15. Fr. Vincent Fitzpatrick says:

    How did bowling balls get into space in the first place?

  16. dowd says:

    Let us consider this looming disaster as a message from God. The fact that it comes at the time of the Synod of the Family should also make us consider that the Synod itself is a looming disaster. Yes, by all means go to Confession and ask God to let Him help you to always do the next best thing. And we can start by praying for Pope Francis and the folks attending the Synod.

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