Newly-discovered asteroid 2012 KT42 is flying past Earth today (May 29th) only ~14,000 km above the planet's surface. This means 2012 KT42 will actually fly inside the Clark Belt of geosynchronous satellites. The 3- to 10-meter wide asteroid ranks # 6 on the top 20 list of closest-approachers to Earth. According to the asteroid's orbit, there is no danger of a collision. Even if it did hit, this space rock is too small to cause significant damage. It would likely disintegrate almost entirely in the atmosphere, peppering the ground below with relatively small meteorites.

AP- A naked man who chewed off the face of another man in what is being called a zombie-like attack may have been under the influence of "bath salts," a drug referred to as the new LSD, according to reports from CNN affiliates in Miami. The horrific attack occurred Saturday and was only stopped after a police officer shot the attacker several times, killing him. http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/29/reports-miami-zombie-attacker-may-have-been-using-bath-salts/?hpt=hp_t2

Magnitude 5.4 - NORTHERN ITALY Location 44.859°N, 10.991°E Depth 9.9 km (6.2 miles) Region NORTHERN ITALY Distances 49 km (30 miles) NW of Bologna, Italy

By Simone Foxman - The euro broke an important benchmark today, falling below $1.25 against the dollar. That's its lowest value since July 2010. This continues a trend we've been seeing over the last few months, as the euro has toppled from consistently trading around $1.30 to hitting the $1.25 http://finance.yahoo.com/news/euro-falls-below-1-25-132045028.html;_ylt=A2KJ3CR_ir9P.jAAYAjQtDMD

The Associated Press - May 25 - Israeli archaeologists have unearthed a stash of rare ancient jewelry near the site of the biblical Armageddon in the north of the country. Finkelstein, who co-directed the dig, said this week that the find offers a rare glimpse into ancient Canaanite high society. The 3,000-year-old jewelry was found inside a ceramic vessel, suggesting the owner hid them before fleeing, he said. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty) PHOTOS: : http://apne.ws/Jz9xo4 Details: http://apne.ws/LNAQjT

2012 May 23 15:02:28 UTC Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 15:02:28 UTC Location 41.386°N, 142.083°E Depth 71.4 km (44.4 miles) Region HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION Distances 107 km (66 miles) NNE of Hachinohe, Honshu, Japan

May 16, 2012: Observations from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) have led to the best assessment yet of our solar system's population of potentially hazardous asteroids. Also known as "PHAs," these asteroids have orbits that come within five million miles (about eight million kilometers) of Earth, and they are big enough to survive passing through Earth's atmosphere and cause damage on a regional, or greater, scale. The asteroid-hunting portion of the WISE mission, called NEOWISE, sampled 107 PHAs to make predictions about the population as a whole. Findings indicate there are roughly 4,700 PHAs, plus or minus 1,500, with diameters larger than 330 feet (about 100 meters). So far, an estimated 20 to 30 percent of these objects have been found. http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/16may_pha/

DENVER - May 15, 2012 - The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a mystery in the sky. A mysterious object flying over Denver nearly caused a mid-air collision Monday evening, 9Wants to Know has learned. As far as investigators know, the mystery object did not show up on radar Monday. Investigators believe this object, whatever it is, could pose a serious safety hazard to planes. VIDEO: http://www.9news.com/news/article/268207/188/Mystery-object-nearly-causes-mid-air-collision

Magnitude 4.7 - Wednesday, May 16, 2012 at 15:02:51 UTC At 7:03 AM Alaskan Daylight Time on May 16, an earthquake with preliminary magnitude 4.7 occurred 10 miles/16 Km southwest of Anchorage, Alaska .

Survey shows world consuming far more than Earth can replenish Author: By Hilary Whiteman CNN - May 15 2012 - From high above the Earth, an astronaut launched the latest report card on the health of the planet which once again paints an alarming image of over-consumption and exploitation. In a recorded message, Andre Kuipers, an astronaut with the European Space Agency on his second mission to the International Space Station, said he had a unique view of the Earth, which he orbits 16 times a day. "From space, you see the forest fires, you see the air pollution, you see erosion," he said, launching the World Wildlife Fund's Living Planet Report for http://www.wfmz.com/news/Report-Earth-going-downhill-as-consumption-rises/-/121458/13395720/-/hjyuikz/-/index.html

NASA: May 14, 2012 - On Sunday the sun is going to turn into a ring of fire. It's an annular solar eclipse, the first one in the United States in almost 18 years. An annular eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly in front of the sun, but the lunar disk is not quite wide enough to cover the entire star. At maximum, the moon forms a "black hole" in the center of the sun.

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NOAA forecasters estimate a 75% chance of M-class solar flares and a 20% chance of X-flares during the next 24 hours. Any eruptions are likely to be geoeffective because the source, sunspot AR1476, is directly facing our planet. X-flare alerts: text, phone. Yesterday, May 10th, amateur astronomer David Maidment of Sohar, Oman caught the active region in mid-flare during a strong M5-class eruption.

May 10 (Reuters) - An ash cloud from a Mexican volcano on Thursday forced the suspension of flights to and from the international airport of Puebla, a major city southeast of Mexico City. The government of Puebla state, of which the city is the capital, said local authorities had ordered the airport to close and would review the situation again around midday. Mexico last month raised the alert level for the volcano Popocatepetl, which lies some 50 miles (80 km) southeast of the capital, after it began pumping out red-hot fragments of rock and ash.

CIDAHU, Indonesia (AP) - Rescuers discovered the shattered wreckage of a new Russian-made passenger plane Thursday that smashed into the side of an Indonesian volcano during a flight to impress potential buyers. All 45 people on board were feared dead. Due to the remoteness of the crash site and the steep, rugged terrain, the bodies will be placed in nets and lifted by ropes to a hovering chopper, national search and rescue agency spokesman Gagah Prakoso said. Heavy mist was hampering visibility, however, forcing the postponement of evacuations until Friday.

Thursday, May 10, 2012 at 15:15:38 UTC Thursday, May 10, 2012 at 10:15:38 AM at epicenter Location 31.901°N, 94.422°W Depth 5 km (3.1 miles) Region EASTERN TEXAS

Huge sunspot AR1476 is crackling with M-class solar flares and appears to be on the verge of producing something even stronger. The sunspot's 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field harbors energy for X-class flares, the most powerful kind. Earth is entering the line of fire as the sunspot rotates across the face of the sun. http://www.spaceweather.com/

TWO INCOMING CMEs: A pair of solar eruptions on May 7th hurled coronal masss ejections (CMEs) toward Earth. Forecast tracks prepared by analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab suggests that clouds with arrive in succession on May 9th at 13:40 UT and May 10th at 07:54 UT (+/- 7 hours). The double impact could spark moderate geomagnetic storms. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras.

The CIA thwarted an ambitious plot by al-Qaida's affiliate in Yemen to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner using a bomb with a sophisticated new design around the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden, The Associated Press has learned. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2018160830_apusairlineplot.html

The moon will become full Saturday at 11:35 p.m. EDT. And because this month's full moon coincides with the moon's perigee — its closest approach to Earth — it will also be the year's biggest. The moon will swing in 221,802 miles (356,955 kilometers) from our planet, offering skywatchers a spectacular view of an extra-big, extra-bright moon, nicknamed a supermoon.

http://www.weather.com/news/supermoon-preview-20120501

By Aaron Kalman, The Times of Israel - The IDF has issued emergency call up orders to six reserve battalions in light of new dangers on the Egyptian and Syrian borders. And the Knesset has given the IDF permission to summon a further 16 reserve battalions if necessary, Israeli media reported on Wednesday. An IDF spokesperson said intelligence assessments called for the deployment of more soldiers. According to 2008′s Reserve Duty Law, combat soldiers can be called for active reserve duty once every three years, and for short training sessions during the other two. Rising tensions between Israel and Egypt and the ongoing unrest in Syria caused the army to ask the Knesset for special permission to call up more soldiers, more often. “This signifies that the IDF regards the Egyptian and Syrian borders as the potential source of a greater threat than in the past,” the former deputy chief of staff, Dan Harel, said on Wednesday night. http://www.timesofisrael.com/knesset-approves-call-up-of-22-idf-battalions/

Spaceweather.com - Earth is entering a stream of debris from Halley's Comet, source of the annual eta Aquarid meteor shower. Because the shower's radiant is located below the celestial equator, southern hemisphere observers are favored, but even northerners will be able to see at least a few flecks of Halley-dust disintegrating in the atmosphere when the shower peaks this weekend. The best time to look is during the hours before sunrise on Sunday, May 6th. Bright moonlight will cap the meteor rate at about 30 per hour.