JWST M51 image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Adamo (Stockholm University) and the FEAST JWST team

OK, first: Don’t panic!

Got it? OK, then, on June 29, around 13:45 UTC (09:45 Eastern US time), a decently large asteroid will pass relatively close to Earth.

Now, read that first line again. Still with me?

The asteroid, 2024 MK, is roughly 200 meters across (though with a lot of uncertainty, 130 – 280 meters), which is big. Were it to hit Earth, the resulting explosion would be bad. Very bad.

The good news is it won’t hit! It will pass about 290,000 km from our planet, three-quarters of the distance to the Moon. On a cosmic scale this is pretty close, but on a human scale it’s a looooong way. So there’s nothing to worry about.

The orbit of 2024 MK is elliptical, taking it just closer to the Sun than Earth and out to about halfway between Mars and Jupiter, taking about 3.3 years to orbit once. It’s tilted to Earth’s orbit by about 8°.

Still, while we’re safe for this pass, the future is uncertain. It’ll get close enough to Earth that our planet’s gravity will change the orbit, making it hard to predict where it will be in the future.

As always, the thing to remember here is that this rock has been orbiting the Sun a long time, and hasn’t hit us. That means it’s unlikely to hit any time soon; Earth is a tiny target in a lot of space. But 2024 MK is a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid, meaning it gets close enough to us and is big enough that if it were to impact the damage would be considerable. Not an extinction level event, but something we’d prefer to avoid. This means astronomers will be keeping a close eye on it, tracking its orbit carefully to get a better idea of where it will be in the future. And should it be predicted to get too close for comfort, we’re actually in a place where we might be able to do something about it.

So to be clear, at least for now I’m not worried about this asteroid. More like I’m concerned. We need to pay attention! The good news is astronomers are paying attention, and it looks like NASA and other space agencies are taking this threat seriously.

I check out the Earth Observatory Image of the Day every day (along with a bunch of other daily updated blog-like sites as I eat lunch), and they recently had one that surprised me.

On the shore of Lake Michigan is a power plant that uses water as an energy-storage battery! The power is mostly generated by nuclear and fossil fuels, and demand is high during the day. But at night, when extra power is generated, they use it to pump water from the lake uphill into a massive reservoir, 842 acres in area. Then, during the day, if needed to meet demand, they can let the water rush back downhill, powering turbines to make energy.

Brilliant! The potential energy of the water is used to store the energy made, then it can be released by converting it to kinetic energy, the energy of motion. Simple physics, genius idea. The EOID page has more info, so check it out, and if you use a feed reader bookmark it! It always has great stuff.

P.S. By coincidence, I also learned that there are sand batteries! Sand can store a lot of heat, so it can be heated by excess power during the day and then discharge that at night. Finland is experimenting with this technology now. Super cool.

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