Source: CNN, Newsbusters
Date: 09/02/2013
Event: Asteroid 2012DA14 approaches: "an effect, perhaps, of global warming?"
Credit: CNN, Newsbusters
People:
Deborah Feyerick: Well, back to our top story, the blizzard. Every time we see a storm like this, lately, the first question to pop into a lot of people's minds is whether or not global warming is to blame. I'll talk to Bill Nye, the Science Guy, about devastating storms and climate change, on the other side.
[Ad break.]
Deborah Feyerick: Well, we're going to bring in our Science Guy, Bill Nye, and, you know, talk about something else that's falling from the sky. And that is an asteroid. What - what's coming our way? Is this an effect of, perhaps, global warming, or is this just some meteoric occasion?
Bill Nye: Except it's all science, that is - the word "meteorology" and the word "meteor" come from the same root, so... Next Friday, 15th February, an asteroid - 2012DA14, which was discovered with a grant provided from Planetary Society, my current day job, I'm the CEO of the Planetary Society - this asteroid is about the same size as the one that made the crater in Meteor Crater, Arizona, as the one that created what's called the Tunguska Event in Siberia in 1908. If such a meteor were to hit Atlanta or New York City or Boston, that would be it [draws finger across throat] for those municipalities. The thing would be about 2,000 square kilometres, 12,000 square miles, something like that - destroyed, flattened, ruined. This [inaudible] miss us -
Deborah Feyerick: But that's not going to happen, let's make sure our viewers don't get nervous. The meteor's sort of going up and above [waves arms] the planet Earth, right?
Bill Nye: Yeah, get nervous but not about this one. This one will miss us by about 15 minutes - 15 minutes' difference, and that's it.