The 1,300-foot-wide asteroid came within roughly 201,000 miles of the planet, within the moon's orbit. Posing no threat to Earth, it allowed NASA scientists at the Deep Space Network antenna in the Mojave Desert their closest peek ever at such a massive space rock.
The radar images were detailed enough to allow NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, based in La Cañada Flintridge, to create a short video of the spinning asteroid as it approached.
The thing that really gets to me about the picture above is the fact that it has been repeatedly portrayed in at least a dozen different science fiction novels and books. I was trying to think of the ones I could name:
Lucifer's Hammer (1977 Niven & Pournelle novel)
Meteor (1979 movie)
Armageddon (1998 movie)
Deep Impact (1998 movie)
Meteor (2009 TV mini-series)
I'm sure there must be lots of others; any earlier than Niven and Pournelle? I guess you could count When Worlds Collide, even though it uses a planet rather than an asteroid.
Can A Human Land A SpaceX Rocket On Its Tail?
'If she starts to roll sideways — blooey! The underjets only hold you up when they’re pointing down, you know.' - Stanley G. Weinbaum, 1936.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!)
is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for
the Invention Category that interests
you, the Glossary, the Invention
Timeline, or see what's New.
Illustrating Classic Heinlein With AI
'Stasis, cold sleep, hibernation, hypothermia, reduced metabolism, call it what you will - the logistics-medicine research teams had found a way to stack people like cordwood and use them when needed.'
Deflector Plasma Screen For Drones ala Star Wars
'If the enemy persists in attacking or even intensifies their power, the density of the plasma in space will suddenly increase, causing it to reflect most of the incoming energy like a mirror.'