10 Feb 13
5 edits
Originally posted by sasquatch672Wikipedia gives the earths orbital speed as 29.7 km/s and 17 miles is about 27 km thats a bit under 1000s which is about 17 minutes. So allowing for the 10% error in my 1000s I think you got your maths right.
Somebody check my math, but I have that as 15 minutes, 17 seconds of earth orbit...that's pretty close.
But unless the thing gets trapped by the atmosphere it really doesn't matter how close it gets. The Earth has a diameter of 12,600 km so it's 2 and a bit times the diameter of the earth away. Which means we shouldn't get a problem even if it hits a satellite. If it does hit a satellite then the satellite's had it, but it won't affect us other than losing the satellite. Could be spectacular to watch though.