then you orbit around the sun. if i get way out in the edge of the solar system and i take a rock and i say, hey, earth, i see you down there, honey. and i take the rock and i, here we go. and that rock crashes into the earth by virtue of earth gravity. how fast did that rock hit? is there a upper limit? what's the fastest that rock gonna splatter into the ground? let me tell you one of the neat things about being a teacher. i keep learning elementary physics a little bit more and more every year. if you had asked me that question several years ago, i would say, well, it would approach the speed of light and i didn't know what i was talking about, because the answer is much more elegant than the speed of light. let me give you a hint. if you're at the top of a building and i throw a rock as fast as i can to get to you and let's suppose i wanna escape the sky or something and you're at the top here and to escape the sky or something, i gotta throw at maybe 11.2 meters per second and it just gets to you and you catch

across the earth's orbit. it's going to track about half a million asteroids so each month it's going to discover about 10,000 asteroids. >> each month? >> each month, yes, which is more than all other telescopes throughout history have combined to discover, so it will do that every month. one of the innovative things i think we're doing is that we are funding this privately. we are a a non-profit foundation funded by private donations. that does not mean that we don't have some government involvement because nasa is for instance a partner of us. nasa provides the communications and tracking of the spacecraft because they have those facilities already built and in return, we will make all the data publicly available. so our contract with the world as we find and discover these asteroids, all that data is open. >> we may be opening a frontier for a new way of doing these deep space missions and nobody's ever done one with private investment, with philanthropy. >> if you look at the cost of a spacecraft that can

but that's how we put things into orbit. we simply put-- instead of using a cannon, we put things on a rocket and piggyback it up and get up there and then we get up there, they fire it out and something falls around and around. next time you see the space shuttle on tv, you see the people inside them, you see the views of the earth, and realize that space shuttle is falling around and around the earth. it's going so fast sideways, by the time it falls a little bit, the earth is curved the same. isaac newton was able to calculate how fast the cannonball would have to go. isaac newton was a genius. you know, there are people on this campus that can calculate how fast the cannonball would have to go. and you know what? there are people in this room who could calculate with no pencil, no paper, only their minds how fast the cannonball would have to go. and i think that 80% of the people in this room can make that calculation if i guide your thinking. can we try it? you want to see who you are? let's try. let me give you a geome

orbit around the sun. it was a meteorite that hit in russia last night. >> reporter: i'm very curious. with this kind of asteroid that is coming so close to earth, albeit now traveling away from earth, can it indeed affect the weather? >> well, this one won't affect the weather. if something like this would actually had the the earth, asteroid this size, it's about 150, 200 feet across, then it could affect locally the weather. if a much larger one hit the earth it could affect the weather globally? >> reporter: in what form? >> throw dust up in the air and debris up into the air and then it shades the sun, lowers the temperature, so that could have a global effect if it were big enough. >> reporter: big viewing party tonight at 7:00? >> yes. we'll have our telescopes open here. we'll be pointing at the asteroid and follow it as it moves away from the earth back around the sun. >> reporter: i'm one that's very interested in this tonight. i hope you are too. for more information, it's cbssf.com. and you'll

crosses the orbit of the earth. now we cross the street all the time, the same street that trucks drive on but we're not hit by trucks because we're not there at the same time and the same place. if you do the math, it turns out that eventually earth and anything that crosses our orbit will collide with one another eventually. so these are the ones we want to keep track of. the problem is the little ones, the one in russia was a little one by cosmic standards. they're so tiny you can't see them until it's too late. >> brown: that brings us to that asteroid 17,000 mile away, that was-- how unusual is something like that. how much in your team of dangers, how dangerous is something like that? >> well, in the past decades we've gotten better and better at monitoring asteroids that kind of invade our space, if you will. and up until today we would, you know, the invaded space criterion was does it come closer to us than the moon. the military now calls that lunar space it was a new word to me, even just a few years ago.

orbiting the sun in such a way the orbit crosses the earth's orbit. it's most important thing for us is that it does cross the orbit of the earth and might at some distant point in the future pose a threat to the earth. although today it doesn't. it just raises our interest and our awareness about these objects. >> conrad, thank you very much. if you want to learn more about this asteroid chabot will be opening the observation deck here. it will be open from 7:00 to 10:00. reporting live lorraine blanco. >>> passengers who are on that disabled carnival cruise ship are waking up in hoe tale rooms. the ship docked in mobile, alabama. here's a live picture of the ship sitting here after several days at sea with no electricity overflowing toilets and shortage of food. coming up in four minutes, we will go back to alabama and get a live report there. >>> over night news san francisco police say they were forced to shoot at a man who was driving a stolen car. it happened during a chase that ended in a violent crash in downtown san francisco. ktvu tara moria

it is well beyond the orbit of most communications satellite. there are some satellites which orbit around 35,000 kilometers above the planet. the collision was considered highly unlikely. >> we can project through most of the 21st century. we are looking at the possibility that it could hit the earth and the year 2018. i expect that will go way. >> the asteroid is traveling at a speed of about 28,000 kilometers an hour. it is about 8 kilometers a second. it could be seen with binoculars or a small telescope. asteroid 2012 comes near the earth every year. this year, it is the closest it has ever ben. it gave scientists their best chance to examine the rock and its orbit. >> we will study the physical properties by measuring its size, shape, rotation, try to understand its surface roughness. we will be measuring its distance and velocity. >> they say will not be this close again for decades. >> india has returned the body of the pakistan soldier. the indian army says he was shot during a gunbattle with its troops on indian soil. the pakistan mili

we already had the initial orbit well, well calculated.is particular object for about a year. and indeed, that becomes nowhere near any of our satellites and as i mentioned earlier, it's already passed by, well over 17,000 miles in its closest approach. >> jim, is there any which these two things are related, what happened in russia and what we just saw? >> well, we've taken a good look at the one that happened over russia about 12 or 13 hours ago and that particular one is coming into a completely different trajectory. da-14 game from south to north. it appears that this one was more north to south and because those orbits are so very different, we believe they're completely unrelated events. >> megyn: that's just incredible. for the average lay person sitting at home. it's hard to believe. you don't get this event every day and yet, apparently today, today we did. and last question for you. is, you know, it's sort of disconcerting that this asteroid that we just witnessed was discovered by a team of amateur scientists, i guess, in anothe

you know, the orbit of the space... >> hinojosa: so what does it look like? >> it looks... you see, for example, the ravages of deforestation in one country versus another. they say... oftentimes they used to say sort of romantically that from space you cannot see the borders between nations. and that's not true. >> hinojosa: wow. >> for example, you can see very clearly the border between egypt and israel, having to do with the way they handle water. you can see very well the border between the united states and mexico. you can see the border between guatemala and mexico. >> hinojosa: and so those three, like, what do you see? the united states in terms of... >> the density of crops in the north of the rio grande is much higher. and the density of crops in the south of the border is not as high. you know, it's noticeable. and because you're looking at it from such a distance, you see it as a straight line. and nature usually doesn't make straight lines like that. you see borders between states in brazil, for example where, you know, deforestation is taking p

. >> the earth is orbiting the sun, this thing is orbiting the sun out of the plane of the earth's orbitttle bit. tomorrow friday, happy valentine's day, by the way. cenk: you too. >> this asteroid will come up from the south pass indonesia. the earth will turn and the gulf stone observatory will point at it. 15 minutes earlier and it would hit us. cenk: that's amazing. >> there's this oh 1% of these objects that we know about and these are city killers. there are other bigger objects that are how to say civillation killers. cenk: in a sense they're almost like loose nooks. here we're scared to death of loose nooks but these are loose nooks times 20. >> a cosmic shooting gallery. cenk: how do we find out about the other 99% funding? >> funding would be great. the planetary society has gotten people that are in a niche they've gotten really good as looking for these so-called fast moving objects. the trouble with these things is, they're not very big and they're dark as charcoal and they're zipping they're going really fast. to find them is quite difficult. >> we are working with the foun

something like about 300 people that have orbited the world. yeah. there is probably someone in this room who will orbit the world. which one? stand up please. tinnie, you're going? gang, i've got a nice homework problem for you. oh, you see that dandy, you're gonna be loving it. and here it is, it's not in your book. here it is. i got a can of chili beans. the chili beans roll down the hill. i've got a can of pineapple juice. the pineapple juice will roll down the hill. i wonder if they roll down the same. well, one is juice, one is a liquid, the other is beans, hard packed beans. which one will get to the bottom first? something with liquid in it? or something with solid in it? this is a homework problem, you hand it in two more days. how are you gonna get the answer? you call up your friends, all right? you look in some other physics books. you talk to a physics type or how many say, "do it myself, do an experiment." do it, gang. and then see if you're cleaver enough to explain why you got the results you got. hint: do all the beans roll? does the

." orbit." in 2016, nasa ill launch a spacecraft tt study &&paaother asteroid's characteristics. p3 3 dogs arr offen called man's best friend.an iilinois man is haviig a ood day afterrhe's - life.meet 19- year- old riccy -3 hatfield and his tww ear ld reeriever named maverick.. hattield says one dayymaverick did sommthing he's never done before.. theedog head--utted --3 him in the ggoin.after hatfield finally recoveree... & the pain onny grew worse so he decided to go to he hoopital. 3 44-47"we had some ullrasounds done, and the lady that did the ultrasound said ii lookkdd like a masss" mass."ttrns out hhtfield had ptage two testicular cancer. hatfielddsays he will find outt if he needd chemo later his montt, but doctors say hhs - expeets a full recovery. 3 a bbd vallnttnes dayyfor one man and ii ex- girlfrienn. -3girlfriend.memphis police sayy p-c williams set his ex- girllriend's car on fire... after he didnnt call... r &ppickkhim up a valeetine'' dayy gift.wwlliias drove off, but & pnside his

and scientists say it will thread the gap between low earth orbit and higher orbits. there is no chance that it will hit earth. >> this is a long way rather close cosmicly. inside of the ring of satellites that in 24 hours orbit. >> 2012 da 14 will pass by close enough to be seen through binoculars or a telescope. it will be moving so fast it will be almost impossible to get a glimpse. >> things looking up in san jose. so says the mayor. why he is prop yogs a tax increase? next. >> and a campaign to curb gun violence through some of the toughest firearms restrictions. news at can 6:00 >>> the mayor of the bay area's largest city gives his state of the state city address in about 30 minutes. david louie is live with the preview of that for us. >> the mayor thinks residents might be willing to pay myer sales taxes if the money can go to hiring more police officers and restoring pay cuts. the reason is rising crime. >> san jose had four homicides so far this year. and a string of robberies. >> crime has gone up. it's scary. y know? thinking about safety of kids and every

some of your weather satellites, communication satellites which are out in orbit. they are actually farther out than where this asteroid will be when it is at its closest to the earth. >> reporter: your reaction to what happened in russia? you have seen the video. >> it's spectacular. it reminds us of stuff that's out there that does come close to us that we don't know about. in fact, it might have been a smaller version, a much smaller version of the asteroid of 2014. >> thank you very much, conrad. you can come here to the space and science center between 7:30 and 10:30 and astronomers will be operating the telescopes you see behind me and they'll be able to see it again by the time it gets to our side of planet earth, you will not be able to see it with a naked eye. it will be too faint. if you have a telescope like that in your backyard, you're fine. reporting live, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> thank you, bob. >>> this morning olympic south africa runner oscar pistorius is making his first court appearance today formally facing murder charges suspected of

they say they put a satellite into orbit. but weern leaders say the north kores we devopin balltic missil which can rry nuclr payload. netanyahu says the fact they went ahead with the tests show sanctions don't work. he says it was proof world leaders should do more to stop nuclear ambitions in another nation, iran. netanyahu told international jewish leaders gathered in jerusalem that embargoes should be coupled with a military threat. >> even tougher sanctions will not stop them. case in point, north korea. have sanctions, tough sanctions, stopped north korea? no. >> israeli leaders believe their counterparts in iran are trying to develop nuclear weapons. the israelis have hinted repeatedly they could launch a preemptive strike. leaders in tehran say they're developing atomic energy for peaceful purposes. netanyahu says iran will be at the top of his agenda when u.s. president barack obama visits israel next month. >>> chinese officials have tak over management of a port in pakistan. officials from a chinese state run firm

including a mouse, a turtle and a worm into orbit in 2010. >> jon: islamic space mouse, turtle and worm all of which inspired the hit, shia pets. (laughing) i just want to bring your attention to this. there is actually a worm in a space suit. a turtle, a mouse, a monkey and there is a worm just in case... i believe old wormy is what they call him. one slight problem: somehow the monkey who got shot into space wasn't like the monkey who supposedly came back. that can mean only one of two things. either the launch was a dud and iran is covering up its failure or -- and i think this is more likely -- they have secretly built the first all primate orbital cosmetic surgery spa. the monkey gets a nip and tuck. any short-term swelling or bruises when he gets back, he's like i just got back from space. cut me some slack. you know who this will be huge about. the little outpatient procedure. nice. now that's a monkey i'd like to [bleep]. b)%p welcome back. my guest tonight, she is a former chancellor of the washington d.c. public school. her new book is called radical, fighting to put students

remember those two moons orbiting pluto? right now they are calls p4 and p5. now a chance for the rest of us to share in mark's latest discovery, one unlikely to be his last. >> two moons in two years for me, that's pretty exciting. >> likely to take part in the vote on my facebook page. garvin thomas bay area. they have a list of names and who, of course, william shatner tweets mark and has another couple suggestions. one was vulkan. >> william shatner, come on. he has his fingers in everything. >> at at&t park for hearts after dark. a great event, tell us about it, jeff, it looks beautiful out there. >> i know. it is hard to even tell we are at at&t park. don't you agree? back here behind me. >> yes. >> i know, they totally transformed it. we are standing right now on center field and you know maybe you've given your loved one here on valentine's day some sort of token of love. san francisco giants spread their love, lending the entire outfield to this event. hearts after dark. there is a flurry of activity banning here behind me as they continue to get set

the noah and other agent is hes, say the ones in jeopardy are the polar orbiting satellites. they give scientists the most detailed views. >> some are starting to fail. there is a delay in getting the next generation of satellites up there. if they fail before the newer satellites there will be a gap. >> reporter: predicting when a satellite will fail is like predicting when a ght bulb will go out. when one goes out those who rely on it for long range forecasting will be in the dark. it is critical information, that allows forecasters and elected leaders to plan for emergency response. evacuations and more. >> having capability to launch new satellites to take their place as they age is important. >> reporter: current estimates to replace the satellites stand $15 billion, that high cost is part of reason for the red tape and delay. >> thank you. replacement for the polar orbiting satellite is not expected unstill 2017. >>> -- until 2017. >>> another encouraging sign maryland students are best prepared in the nation. more maryland students passed ap exams last year than any ot

from buoys in the ocean, planes flying through and around storms, satellites orbiting the earth.n fact, 90% of the data those computer models relied upon came from satellites. >> command control, engineering data. >> right out of here? >> yep, right out of here. >> katherine sullivan is deputy administrator of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration, noaa. the agency is in charge of monitoring and distributing data from two kinds of satellites. one type, called g.o.e.s., flies above the equator and provides a close up view of a given area. the other orbit the poles, taking big pictures of the planet's atmosphere. >> it's really critical to the global models that let us look ahead into the future, from a day to several days, and understand what the state of the atmosphere will be that will affect weather three, four, five days out. >> days of advanced warning we simply didn't have decades ago. >> this town was just completely demolished. >> something the former mayor of galveston, texas, lyda ann thomas, knows all too well. she grew up learning about the deadliest hurr

the astroid passed under the orbit of some of our weather satellites. it's captivated attention of people at goddard and around the world. we had about 17,000 miles of breathing room from its closest point above the indian ocean and it was about 2,000 miles or so from the nearest satellite orbiting earth. >> space is a really big place, so it's still mostly empty. >> reporter: the approach of da14 may be news to us, but nasa has known about it for a year. it's the meteor that slammed into russia earlier this morning that took them completely by surprise. it's a calculated risk nasa took when they first started studying outer space for possible close encounters. >> we started out focusing on the largest astroids that would cause global damage and have pretty much ruled out damage of that kind of magnitude in the foreseizure future. >> the meteor that hit russia today was under 500 feet in diameter. nasa's pro s rex mission is to learn more about these flying objects. i'm meteorologist erica grow, wusa9. >> nasa plans to catch up with an astroid as it pas

hours later a large asteroid passed within the earth's orbit. the two events are unrelated. nasa has been keeping a watch on this space rock for months t. came within 17,000 miles of earth. objects that size buzz earth about once every 40 years. >> this is a set of these asteroids and comites, even, that do occasional pass close to the earth across our orbit. we keep close track on those so we can predict when one might, some day, hit the earth. >> reporter: the best viewing was in australiaia and asia. but tonight, the space and science observetory will be open for people to get a look as it heads back to outer space. more details on today's event. scientists believe our solarsystem could have 500,000 or more asteroids, the size of the one that came chose to the earth today. fewer than 1% have been catalog. nasa spents $20 million a year on asteroid detection. as for the difference between a meteor and an asteroid, a meteor is an asteroid that comes into earth's atmosphere. go to our web site for more images and look at the images tab at the top of our home page. >>> hate t

and double checked. >> it's orbit is very well known. we know exactly where it can go. and it cannot hit the earth. >> reporter: coming as close as it does, gives scientists a rare chance to study an asteroid. >> the possibilities of understanding it coming so close. the kind of radio telescopes here is a bonanza. >> reporter: one that won't come with a bang. >> reporter: scientists say the asteroid, which weighs whron 30- - 130,000 tons has a slim chance of hitting a satellite. >>> everyone is talking about the ravens super bowl win. as mike schuh explains, one of the team's most popular players, surprised children at a school in baltimore county. >> reporter: when you win the super bowl, everybody wants to stop you, shake your hand, take your picture. the nfl knows this. and they're sending out their stars to try to influence children to live healthier lives. >> this year, under a special program, all of the students at chase elementary, are fed breakfast. >> we're having apple juice, milk, and rice crispies. >> friends, just put your

they orbit in edgier synchronous ring, 22,000 miles above us and da flew through it twice.o damage reported. planetary scientists say the best the about today's close encounter was preparing for future astronauts. >> they will not be hazardous for many hundreds of years. that gives us plenty of time to really be able to study the population, understand how it's structured aand come up with mitigation strategies. >> many cases strategies like he may have seen in some hollywood movies recent times, you know, coming up with some sort of the flexion plan in case of future astra is going to make indirect impact. now, today's flyby was so close that earth's gravity actually alter the or rid of jay 14 for good, so now the nex flyby surge will be sold 2040 and another in 2018 which could be close calls. we should all really be aware of these asteroids. that is what scientists are constantly looking upwards because it was a nest for about 6 miles wide blamed for the massive extension that wiped out all of the dinosaurs. lou. lou: thank you very mch. i mean, this is quite something.

web with footage as rumors spread of what it might have been a stricken airplane a satellite that orbits even the beginning of the end of the world in our t.v. documentary crew that was working in the area suddenly found themselves at the center of events that put up that we saw a huge tail in the sky like from an airplane and then there was a bright fire and an explosion but the feeling was like there are. we thought a military jets may have crashed or that it was some manmade disaster it was a relief to find very sad because a natural phenomena anywhere except over twelve hundred people were injured including over two hundred children mostly from pieces of shattered glass not one of the girls ran out to take pictures yes. and she was thrown in by the wave that came after this the flash and then we. my ears got blocked and the whole room get got filled with dust just like like a fog it's estimated the media as we need to varied from ten to forty tons and its speed of around twenty miles per second it gave it a huge amount of energy and made it very difficult to detect you know that ther

above the earth, much closer than many satellites that orbit 22,000 miles out. >> an object as large as this passes by the earth we think on average about once every 22 years. >> reporter: two close calls today with the world wondering what would have happened if either one had hit a city. tom costello, nbc news, washington. >> neil de grasse tyson is an astro physicist and director of the haden planetarium. good to have you here. you're a man in demand today. >> thanks for having me on. yeah, apparently. >> we all have a lot of questions about this. what we saw in russia, first off. >> extraordinary. >> this is a big planet, mostly water. is this something that happens more often than we know? >> these blasts of that magnitude, there was one in the '90s that was an air blast above india and pakistan, right when they were negotiating nuclear control. and so that's a little worrisome, because one of them might have accused the other of a first strike. if you fill in the blanks with places these might have fallen where no one would have taken notice, like the middle of the pacific or o

. >> and it is going to scan earth's orbit multiple times and map all the asteroids across earth's orbitse those are the asteroids that could hit. >> it's going to track 500,000 asteroids, each month it's going to discover about 10,000 asteroids. >> each month? >> yes. >> which is more than all other telescopes throughout history have combined to discover. it'll do that every month. >> watch more on former nasa astronaut ed lue and his urgent mission to save planet earth. this sunday on the next list. with so much competition, finding the right job is never easy. but with the nation's largest alumni network, including those in key hiring positions, university of phoenix can help connect you to a world of opportunity. [ male announcer ] when we built the cadillac ats from the ground up to be the world's best sport sedan... ♪ ...people noticed. ♪ the all-new cadillac ats -- 2013 north american car of the year. ♪ for a limited time, take advantage of this exceptional offer on the all-new cadillac ats. a hairline fracture to the mandible and contusions to the metacarpus. what do you see? um,

that way had it arrives at earth's orbit we've already passed by or haven't arrived at the rendezvous yet. >> axelrod: just a fraction. >> just a fraction. >> axelrod: in south africa today the extended family of olympic runner oscar pistorius came to his defense claiming the state's own evidence will refute the charge that he deliberately shot and killed his girlfriend. kelly cobiella has the latest on a case that has two families in shock. >> reporter: lawyers for oscar pistorius met with him today as did his grandmother at the pretoria police station where he's been held since his arrest on valentine's day. speaking on the family's behalf, his urgele, arnold pistorius. >> our entire family is devastate pd we are in a state of total shock. >> reporter: his upscale home where girlfriend reeva steenkamp was found dead is still taped off. she was reportedly shot four times through a closed bathroom door with a gun owned by pistorius. early reports suggested that the hero athlete thought he was shooting an intruder. south africa has one of the highest violent crime rates in the world--

footage as rumors spread of what it might have been a stricken airplane a satellite that fell out of orbit even the beginning of the end of the world and our t.v. documentary crew that was working in the area suddenly found themselves at the center of events that. we saw a huge tail in the sky light from an airplane and then there was a bright fire and an explosion the feeling was like there are three shattering we thought a military jets may have crashed or that it was some manmade disaster it was a relief to find out said he's a natural phenomenon except over twelve hundred people were injured including over two hundred children mostly from pieces of shattered glass not one of the girls ran out to take pictures yes. and she was thrown in by the wave that came after this the flash and then we. my ears got blocked and the whole room get got filled with dust just like like a fog it's estimated the media as we need to varied from ten to forty tons and its speed of around twenty miles per second it gave it a huge amount of energy and made it very difficult to detect you know that there are te