80-ton asteroid's impact recorded (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

Scientists from Queen's University in Belfast have become the first to study an asteroid before it impacts with Earth.

The asteroid in question, 2008 TC3, weighed 80 tonnes and had a diameter of four metres.

It landed in the Nubian Desert in Sudan last October, where it scattered after exploding at an altitude of 37km.

Astronomers from Queen's Astrophysics Research Centre observed the asteroid as it hurtled toward Earth and captured the only spectrum of it before it exploded in our atmosphere.

"This was the first ever predicted impact of an asteroid with the Earth and the very first time an asteroid of any size has been studied before impact," said Professor Alan Fitzsimmons, from Queen's.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7964309.stm

[smoogatz]

1. Too cool.

That's a big-ass rock.

[floridablue]

2. Was that just a tracer round for 2012 ?