Time to duck - asteroid on the way

Got this as an email from a friend:

> Feb. 13, 2013
>
> Steve Cole Headquarters, Washington 202-358-0918 [email protected]
> D.C. Agle Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-393-9011 [email protected]
> MEDIA ADVISORY: M13-031
>
> NASA TO CHRONICLE CLOSE EARTH FLYBY OF ASTEROID
>
> PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA Television will provide commentary starting at 2 p.m. EST (11 a.m. PST) on Friday, Feb. 15, during the close, but safe, flyby of a small near-Earth asteroid named 2012 DA14. NASA places a high priority on tracking asteroids and protecting our home planet from them. This flyby will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study a near-Earth object up close.
> The half-hour broadcast from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., will incorporate real-time animation to show the location of the asteroid in relation to Earth, along with live or near real-time views of the asteroid from observatories in Australia, weather permitting.
> At the time of its closest approach to Earth at approximately 2:25 p.m. EST (11:25 a.m. PST/ 19:25 UTC), the asteroid will be about 17,150 miles (27,600 kilometers) above Earth's surface.
> The commentary will be available via NASA TV and streamed live online at:
> http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
> and
> http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2
> In addition to the commentary, near real-time imagery of the asteroid's flyby before and after closest approach, made available to NASA by astronomers in Australia and Europe, weather permitting, will be streamed beginning at about noon EST (9 a.m. PST) and continuing through the afternoon at the following website:
> http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2
> A Ustream feed of the flyby from a telescope at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will be streamed for three hours starting at 9 p.m. EST (8 p.m. CST). To view the feed and ask researchers questions about the flyby via Twitter, visit:
> http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-msfc
> The NASA Near Earth Objects (NEO) Program at the agency's headquarters in Washington, manages and funds the search, study, and monitoring of NEOs, or asteroids and comets, whose orbits periodically bring them close to the Earth. NASA's study of NEOs provides important clues to understanding the origin of our solar system. The objects also are a repository of natural resources and could become waystations for future exploration. In collaboration with other external organizations, one of the program's key goals is to search and hopefully mitigate potential NEO impacts on Earth. JPL conducts the NEO program's technical and scientific activities.
> For more information, including graphics and animations showing the flyby of 2012 DA14, visit:
> www.nasa.gov/asteroidflyby
> For more information about asteroids and near-Earth objects, visit:
> http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch
>
> -end-
>

Reminds me of the billons we've wasted on manned space flight. Could have gleaned more knowledge
by using unmanned equipment.

worked for nasa boys many moons ago,their thinking was while a machine could give you data,a person could give you real time observations. even today when we have so many really good cameras and things,what we see is still just images and a portion of the whole picture. Thats the reasoning behind manned space flight anyway. wheather its cost effective is another story. think of it this way,you can take all kinds of pictures of a mountain, but until you climb it you still dont know whats really there.

Must be caused by global warming....

Dean
CNN Dolts

Why say, "better duck?" Ducking would serve no purpose for two reasons:

A. The asteroid is going to miss the planet by 17000+ miles.
B. Ducking would do about as much good as Wile E Coyote's umbrella if it did hit.

So many people read the headline and don't get any further, or are so mentally poisoned by the headline that the facts stated in the rest of the article are lost on them...

Everybody would be a whole lot happier and get along better if we'd just stop using these inaccurate, incendiary, sensationalized "headlines."

Nye was good enough to respond with what sounded like a non-sequitor... instead of saying "NO DUMMY" Can you say airbimbo?

It's freakin joke you Idiot.
Sorry but sometimes people can just make me MADD .
Walt
PS IM GOING TO DUCK ANYWAY.

Does this mean a few thousand more knuckle headed idiots will commit suicide????

bill nye the science guy. Who has a degree in mechanical drawing. As underwhelming as that bowtie, the little dweeb wears!