Dear Jim:
For those who still think an asteroid impact is nothing to worry about, this was just posted on the Australian survival site forum, http://www.aussurvivalist.com: a 10 inch asteroid just hit the moon with the power of four tons of TNT, making a crater just over 42 feet wide. The event was captured on video. Although it is acknowledged that this would have been unlikely to make it through Earth’s atmosphere, the point is this goes on all the time, and Earth being hit by one that makes it through is just a matter of time. It is also believed that a 26 pound meteor landed recently in Northern Finland. Early speculation was that it was much larger. – Rourke
JWR Replies: Rourke’s letter (received July 2nd) deserves even more attention after a news story on July 3rd about a large asteroid a near miss ( Apollo Asteroid 2004 XP14). This one was estimated at 370 meter width, and passed by Earth at only one lunar distance (LD), which by astronomical standards is a very close call. OBTW, for comparison, the asteroid that is thought to have formed Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona was estimated to have been just 25 meters in diameter.