Thanks Chris.We're still livin...until the next encounter! LOLNSF survives, yay!
NSF survives, yay!
13 mins to impact closest approach.
There's a couple of bits of data that I'm hoping will get some publicity.1) The degree to which 2012 DA14's orbit was perturbed by the encounter with the Earth/Moon system's gravitational pull (might help us fine-tune density estimates and make deducing its composition easier);2) Did the asteroid shed any fragments (there is a theory that many small NEOs are 'piles of rubble' held together by mutual gravity. The stronger gravity of the Earth might have pulled some bits off, altering the final orbit of 2012 DA14 as well as adding chaotic elements into calculating its future orbit).
Any word on when NASA will release radar images planned for collection from Goldstone?