Screaming Penguin - Source Does Matter

BBC is reporting on an asteroid only discovered in December that is now making a "close approach" to Earth. The asteroid will pass about twice the distance to the Moon away from the Earth. Thats a very close call in astronomical terms.

This asteroid is 300M across and would wipe out entire portions of continents if it struck land. This potential always exists on any planet but the alarming thing is that science organizations are cutting back on watching and mapping space for asteroids and other astronomical reasons/activities/objects.

This asteroid has the potential to come back around to the Earth and possibly collide at a later date (its an Apollo orbit object.)

There are of course many objects in space that could collide with the Earth (and have in the past) that would cause major damage. It is silly to think that we dont want to research this further and have more notice about the potential. Of course the movie land "Asteroid" type rescue would never really happen, but it would be nice to notify people near a projected impact area and any coastal areas. And even if it were a "global killer" as they say it would still be worth knowing about and at least trying to deal with in some capactity.

Its all natural normal stuff, but its pretty frightening the way we elect to not deal with it more completely. Something like this puts our trivial daily problems and disputes in real perspective.

For more info check the linked BBC story, and thanks to slashdot for the lead.   Near miss "devastating" asteroid: BBC