Asteroid 2012 DA14 Will Just Barely Miss The Earth On February 15th, Destructive Potential Of An H-Bomb

Asteroid 2012 DA14 is going to just miss the Earth on February 15th. It will pass by at a distance of just 14,913 miles, which is closer than many satellites orbit. If it did strike the Earth, which it may in the future, the 164ft long asteroid has about as much destructive potential as an H-bomb. So if it hit an urban area the damage would be enormous, and that’s not even including side effects such as changes in the weather, and possible tsunamis.

As Don Yeomans, of NASA’s Near Earth Object Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, says: it will be a “record-setting close approach. 2012 DA14 will definitely not hit Earth. The orbit of the asteroid is known well enough to rule out an impact.”

Researchers have estimated that if a strike did occur, that it would level an area larger than all of Greater London. Just back in 1908 there was an asteroid impact of similar size, the Tunguska event. The (estimated) 131ft asteroid completely flattened over 772 square miles of Siberian forest.

“That is an area the size of Greater London,” said Dr. Gerhard Drolshagen, a near-Earth object observer from the European Space Agency’s Space Situational Awareness (SSA) office. “This asteroid is a little bigger.”

Dr Yeomans continued: “Since regular sky surveys began in the 1990s, we’ve never seen an object this big get so close to Earth.”

“The rock in question is believed to be made of stone, rather than metal or ice and Yeomans estimates an asteroid of that sort flies past Earth on average every 40 years, but is only likely to strike the planet ever 1,200 years or so. An estimated 500,000 near-Earth objects measuring up to 98ft are believed to be undiscovered.”

Dr Detlef Koschny, also from the SSA, said: “We are developing a system of automated optical telescopes that can detect asteroids just like this one, with the goal of being able to spot them at least three weeks before closest approach to Earth.”

Unfortunately, even though it will be passing very close to the Earth it will not be visible with the naked eye. It will peak around an apparent magnitude of 7.4.

The asteroid’s orbit will likely be changed to some degree by its very close pass-by, but isn’t expected to pass any closer than 0.0004 AU from the center-point of the Earth on its next pass-by in 2046.

Stephenie Meyer Misses Robert Pattinson And Kristen Stewart On Set

Stephenie Meyer has a lot to be excited about. "Breaking Dawn - Part 2," the final installment of her "Twilight" vampire saga, hits theaters later this year, and the author has already started on her next big-screen project. She is currently working on the set of "The Host," the film adaptation of her sci-fi romance novel.

When MTV News headed to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for a behind-the-scenes look at the movie, Meyer told us how strange it feels not to have "Twilight" stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart hanging around on set.

"It makes it a lot calmer. I do miss them, though," she said. "It seems funny not to have Kristen here. 'I'm on a set, why can't I talk to Kristen?' That's a little funny."

Although she misses working with the actors she spent nearly five years with bringing Edward Cullen and Bella Swan to life, Meyer has welcomed the experience of filming "The Host." Along with giving audiences the chance to see a whole new cast of characters, it was an opportunity to escape the dark and gloomy weather in Forks. "This [set] has beautiful landscapes everywhere we've been, and so that's been kind of different, too," she said. "We're not in a forest where you can't really see. We've got all this beautiful stuff. It's great."

She particularly enjoyed filming on the cave sets. "It was so awesome. The cave set was enormous. It was vast," the writer said. "They're just so cool, so much fun to walk on. It was kind of like someone built something out of your imagination just for you."