Tracking a Space Rock’s Streak Past Earth
41:43 minutes
Asteroid 2012 DA14 is half the size of a football field, and whizzing towards the Earth at over 17,000 miles per hour. Don’t worry, it won’t hit us. But on Friday, February 15th it makes its closest approach, scraping by the Earth’s surface closer than many satellites. Join Ira Flatow and Flora Lichtman for special live coverage of this near encounter, with first-hand reports from astronomers around the world.
Segment Guests
Edward Lu
Edward Lu is chairman and CEO of the B612 Foundation and a former NASA astronaut based in Palo Alto, California.
Alison Gibbings
Alison Gibbings is a Ph.D. researcher at the Advanced Space Concepts Lab at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, United Kingdom.
Eric Anderson
Eric Anderson is co-founder and co-chairman of Planetary Resources, Inc. and chairman of Space Adventures, Ltd. in Bellevue, Washington.
Gianluca Masi
Gianluca Masi is with the Bellatrix Observatory in Ceccano, Italy.
Humberto Campins
Humberto Campins is on the science team of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission and a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida.
Jonathan Bradshaw
Jonathan Bradshaw is an amateur astronomer at the Samford Valley Observatory in Brisbane, Australia.
Richard Tonello
Richard Tonello does astronomy education services at the Gingin Observatory in Perth, Australia.
Jay Melosh
Jay Melosh is a distinguished professor in the department of earth & atmospheric sciences at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.
Meet the Producers and Host
About Christopher Intagliata
@cintagliataChristopher Intagliata was Science Friday’s senior producer. He once served as a prop in an optical illusion and speaks passable Ira Flatowese.
About Denise Chow
@denisechowDenise Chow is a sci-tech editor at Live Science and a former associate producer for Science Friday.