UW-158: Asteroid with 90 MILLION tonne core to pass Earth on Sunday - and you can watch it

[Judi Lynn]

UW-158: Asteroid with 90 MILLION tonne core to pass Earth on Sunday - and you can watch it
11:19, 17 July 2015
By Sam Webb


Asteroid UW-158, thought to contain £3 trillion worth of platinum, will be 30 times closer than the nearest planet at around 10pm



Getty

[font size=1]Rich: The asteroid contains tonnes of valuable platinum [/font]

An asteroid worth a potential THREE TRILLION POUNDS is set to pass tantalisingly close to Earth on Sunday night.

Asteroid UW-158 is thought to have a 90 million tonne core of platinum and will be 30 times closer than the nearest planet at around 10pm - and stargazers will be able to enjoy the spectacle live.

Slooh, a project which links telescopes to the internet for public use, will be broadcasting images from an observatory in the Canary Islands.

Slooh Astronomer Bob Berman said: "It's always fun when an asteroid whooshes past our world so the Slooh telescopes will be watching live when asteroid 2011 UW-158 passes 30 times closer to us than the nearest planet, on July 19.

More:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/uw-158-asteroid-90-million-tonne-6085232

("Tantalizingly close?" )

[Warren DeMontague]

1. these tonnes and pounds are confusing the crap out of me.

Damn you, Brits!

Also, it's only a matter of time before we start mining these suckers. They are worth billions of DOLLARS

[gvstn]

2. Thing is

If you add 90 million tons of platinum to the world supply the price goes down as it is no longer rare. Same would work with diamonds which probably aren't even as rare now on earth as De Beer's might want you to think.

Just saying don't count your trillions of dollars(conversion from pounds =~5 trillion) just yet. Keep it in the billions.

[Warren DeMontague]

3. No, I hear that. Still, many of these rare earth metals, etc. have intrinsic value beyond simply

being shiny and hard to find- in electronics, for instance.

The most valuable thing in space - to us- may end up being the ice and water- but it looks like there's a lot of that, too.

[2naSalit]

4. Yikes!

What time zone are we talking about for the 10pm thing? I'd like to catch a glimpse of that if it isn't during the 5 hours in which I actually get to sleep.

[gvstn]

5. 6:30 p.m. ET

[2naSalit]

6. Thanks...

and a bummer too. That's 4pm Mountain Time, not gonna see it... oh well.

*sad trombone*

[gvstn]

7. The fact that it is only UK sites reporting this, I wonder if it would be visible in US?

[krispos42]

8. I'm on the east coast, and it's light here until 9 pm.

:-\

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. I think you'd need a pretty powerful telescope to see it

If I've got it right, this says it's peak apparent magnitude today will be +14.8 to +14.7 : http://www.hohmanntransfer.com/busy/busy_ephem.htm

which is less than the maximum brightness of Pluto: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparent_magnitude#Table_of_notable_celestial_objects

According to this, you could do with an 8 inch telescope to see Pluto: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/see-pluto-in-201506102015/

The point is to use the internet to look at the image the big telescope produces.

[freshwest]

16. Then it'll be daylight in the west. Won't see it in plain eyesight...

[dickthegrouch]

9. What the hell does 30 times closer mean?

The statement 30 times closer is designed for the math challenged and means exactly nothing.

Do they mean 1/30th of the distance between us and Venus, or perhaps more accurately, the distance between earth's orbit and Venus's orbit around the sun averaged over the entire path?

Remember, it is NOT easy to determine which planet is closer, Venus could be the other side of the sun and Mars much closer than Venus (Currently).

[FlatBaroque]

10. dickthegrouch, that part made me grouchy as well.

Solidarity.

[Wilms]

13. Same here.

And they repeated it. Plus the whole thing about $Trillion$.

Great culture we got.

[Lionel Mandrake]

20. That 1/30 crap pissed me off, too.

Mars occasionally gets within 1/2 an astronomical unit of the Earth, i.e., 46 million miles away. One thirtieth of that would be about about 1.5 million miles. Is that what the OP meant? If so, that's about six times as far away as the Moon -- not exactly a dire threat to the Earth.

[Wilms]

21. Here's what the story meant:

If they come straight out and tell you that there's not exactly a dire threat to the Earth not as many clicks will come in.

Like I said, great culture.

[dickthegrouch]

19. Cool site showing actual placement of planets at any time

http://www.fourmilab.ch/solar/solar.html

[1StrongBlackMan]

11. Stup I'd Question here ...

How does science know what is inside of something from looking at its outside?

[freshwest]

17. Spectral analysis? IDK, my days of taking Astronomy are long over. There are some private firms that

are going offworld now, as they anticipate mining these asteroids with robotics or manned ships. May have met up with this beast before:

http://www.planetaryresources.com/

I dispute them saying asteroids are the most valuable real estate. I think this planet is.

Let's just hope this asteroid won't be like Apophis...

April 29th, 2029: The Coast Is Toast.

[mindwalker_i]

12. Don't worry, Trump's hair will absorb the impact

[Wilms]

14. More like ensnare the thing. n/t

[mindwalker_i]

15. Oh man, now I feel sorry for the poor asteroid

It was just going along in its orbit, minding its own business, and the poor thing gets caught up in Trump's hair. What a terrible way to go.

[cstanleytech]

22. It could be far, far worse................it could be forced to listen to a Sarah Palin speech. nt

[mindwalker_i]

23. True dat!

[Ichingcarpenter]

18. One ounce of platinum (XPT) is equal to $1,698.23

Price per ton

Also there is the long, metric and short ton.

Long - $60,864,563.2
Metric - $59,903,300.5
Short - $54,343,360


90 million tonne core of platinum? Well my calculator doesn't go that high.

[xocet]

24. Slooh has a live viewing starting at 6:00 ET...

Sunday July 19, 2015
6:00 pm ET

$5 Trillion Dollar Asteroid Makes Close Approach to Earth

...

Though it’s less than a kilometer across, asteroid 2011 UW158, which passes just 1.5 million miles from Earth on July 19, 2015, has captured the attention of asteroid miners who wish to tap into the bountiful resources of the solar system. The size, composition, and orbit of 2011 UW158 have gained it a place on the short list of asteroids that might make a good target for robotic mining missions in the near future. And it’s no wonder… planetary scientists estimate the little asteroid might contain $300 billion to as much as $5.4 trillion dollars worth of precious metals and minerals. Join Slooh as we examine this little asteroid through our remote telescopes and discuss the possibilities of asteroid mining missions in the coming years. During this live show, Slooh astronomers will discuss:

What we know so far about asteroid 2011 UW158 and how planetary scientists estimate its composition and potential value
What planetary scientists hope to learn about 2011 UW158 during this close approach
What close approaches of asteroids to Earth mean for the possibility of mining and further exploration of the solar system
What might be involved in sending a mission to mine an asteroid

Mark your calendars to join us for this show on July 19, 2015.

http://main.slooh.com/event/5-trillion-dollar-asteroid-makes-close-approach-to-earth/

[drm604]

26. I gotta get me some of that platinum.

Not much time to figure this out. Hmm...

ETA: Maybe I can use a giant magnet to crash it in my back yard!