Disaster from the skies! Apparently.

The image above is a pointlessly alarming graphic that is at best tangentially related to the following post. Silly I know, but all the cool kids are doing it.

If you don’t believe me, take a look at this ridiculously alarmist video that now seems to be making the rounds on Facebook. The video makes a few vague slaps at NASA and the evil scientific establishment before launching into a presentation on apparently potential dire consequences of the asteroid TU24 passing close* to the Earth.

It’s not really my area of expertise, but the predictions are so alarming, and the comments so credulous that I thought I’d better post a link some actual information.

If anyone you know is in danger of actually believing this nonsense, direct them to Phil Plait** at Bad Astronomy who has posted a pretty comprehensive slap down of the video’s specific claims.

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* And by “close” of course what we actually mean is “at a distance from the Earth greater than that of the Moon”.

** An actual astronomer