RENEWED CONCERN FOR RISK OF MAJOR ASTEROID IMPACT DISASTER
INITIAL DATA SUGGESTED NEW ASTEROID WOULD CAUSE AN EXTINCTION-LEVEL EVENT IN JUST 17 YEARS. If this will happen, we are in for real tough ride! (Calculate for yourself below)
ON 05 JULY 2012 A NEW ASTEROID was confirmed by Linear Observatory’s automated sky survey programmed in New Mexico, USA, and named ì2002-NT7î. The meteor was classified as a near earth object which is an object with a path that brings it particularly close to our planet. Since the asteroid was discovered astronomers all over the world have been watching closely, and based on data from almost 200 observations they confirmed that, of the 448 NEOs being publically tracked, 2002-NT7 was officially the most dangerous asteroid ever seen.
Researchers estimated that asteroid 2002-NT7 would collide with earth on Friday, 1 February 2019, with an impact velocity of 28 km per second, weighing in at 2 km (1.4 miles) in diameter, causing cataclysmic destruction on a continental scale and triggering global climatic changes. Astronomers rated the object with a score of 0.06 on the Palermo technical scale (Level 1 on the Torino scale), making NT7 the first object to be given a positive value. Dr Benny Peiser of Liverpool John Moore’s University, UK, warned: “this asteroid has now become the most threatening object in the short history of asteroid detection.” The world helplessly awaited further Announcement’s, while the media played-down the worst fears by focusing on scientists hopes that further research may predict a very near miss, rather than the direct hit predicted, during early 2019. Finally, at the end of the month, based on more detailed data accumulated from observations to date, Dr Don Yeomans, of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, announced: “We can now rule out any impact possibilities for 1 February 2019.”
ESCAPE FROM EXTINCTION
As the world breathed a sigh of relief, Dr Peiser responded with renewed concern: “It would be prudent to caution interested observers that further observations in the near future could result in new impact dates.” If further observations do reveal that 2002-NT7 is on a direct collision course with earth, we will have several opportunities to deflect the asteroid because it orbits the sun approximately every 2.2 years.
NEW THREAT TO PUBLIC DISCLOSURE
The intense international interest in 2002-NT7 seems to have prompted a long-overdue debate in the astronomical community. The Insider was alarmed to learn that many astronomers are so unhappy with the way in which the media reported this scare that they are calling for a review of official policy on public disclosure.
SECRECY IN THE STARS
The appearance in March of comet Ikeya-Zhang was a welcome surprise for twilight stargazers, but also a disturbing reminder that we frequently have only a few weeks warning when a potentially cataclysmic object is heading our way. Classical superstition sees comets as omens warning of impending tragedy. The last appearance of this comet in 1661 heralded the outbreak of the Great Plague (Black Death) in Europe (1661-1665 CE), and the great fire of London struck in the following year of 1666. Insiders will be aware that comets are important in the folklore of Freemasonry, frequently depicted in Masonic illustrations as daggers in the sky.
