A giant asteroid as wide as a football field is set to zoom past the region Friday afternoon at 37,000 mph with no evidence of its presence here on Earth. Still, Jay Melosh, a Purdue University professor and international crater expert, wants people to know what might happen if asteroid 2012 DA14 were to hit Chicago, so they can learn more about the connection between our planet and space. "I think what we're learning is not to be so Earth-centered," Melosh said. "Stars are not little lights in the sky with little to do with us other than astrology. The sky has a direct impact on us and has sculpted our planet. "We owe our existence and dominance as mammals to a big rock that hit the planet and killed the dinosaurs." Melosh, a professor of earth, atmospheric and planetary science, physics and aerospace engineering, has worked with NASA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. The asteroid passing by the Earth Friday is significant, he said, because "it's the closest fly-by we've ever seen of an object this size in recent history." The asteroid is 50-meters wide, is traveling at 37,000 mph and weighs about 200,000 tons, nearly half the weight of a loaded supertanker. "We saw it a year ahead of time thanks to a group in Spain," he said. "They are part of an international group of scientists concerned about impacts." Read more http://www.nwitimes.com/news/state-...cle_20e709ce-0bea-54f8-b307-8c0ade0af623.html
