The Flyby By a "Astronomical Yard" of 2012 TC4

On 2017 October 12, the asteroid 2012 TC4 will flyby the Earth. This flyby has received a great deal of coverage in the media. When comes to media coverage of any asteroid flybys one of the most overused expressions is "close shave." Anyone who ever had to shave for work knows what a close shave is and what one is not. By comparing the solar system to the known universe, Pluto would be a "close shave" astronomically speaking. However, the subject at hand is the flyby of the Earth by an asteroid, therefor the Earth may serve a useful point of comparison.

If one wishes to simplify the matter, one could create a scale model of the Earth by way of a spreadsheet. If, one uses a ball with a diameter of 29.21 cm (11.5 inches) [this happen to be same as the as the length of a football ball(American)] to represent the Earth:

• A CM would be 436.2204724 KM, an inch would be 1108 KM.
• The International Space Station would be 9.2 mm away.
• Geosynchronous orbit would be 820.4 mm, 0.8204 m, or 0.8972 yards
• 2012 TC4 Nominal Distance(JPL)[2017-Oct-10] would be 1003.6 mm, 1.0036 m, or 1.0976 yards
• Light-second would be 6872.5 mm, 6.8725 m, or 7.5159 yards
• Lunar distance would be 8666.1 mm, 8.6661 m, or 9.4773 yards.

It should be noted since the start of The 2012 TC4 Observing Campaign the orbital uncertainty has been dramatically reduced. This many of made much of media coverage in the blogosphere out of date.
Useful Links:

• Fast Rotation of the NEA 2012 TC4 Indicates a Monolithic Structure by  Polishook, D. in The Minor Planet Bulletin (ISSN 1052-8091). Bulletin of the Minor Planets Section of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers, Vol. 40, No. 1, p. 42-43 (2013)
• Space Situational Awareness(ESA) -- 2012 TC4
• Near Earth Objects Dynamic Site--2012 TC4
• (MPC) Observations --2012 TC4
• JPL Orbit Diagram --2012 TC4
• Close Approach of Asteroid 2012 TC4(Tuesday, October 9, 2012 Remanzacco Observatory, Italy)
• NEO Earth Close Approaches (JPL) (upcoming)
• JPL's NEO Earth Close-Approaches (Between 1900 A.D. and 2200 A.D- limited to encounters with reasonably low uncertainty)
• The Tracking News
• NEO Coordination Centre 
• Speed of Light - Space - Distance Calculator
• Asteroid Hazards: The View from Space(MPC)
• Don’t fear apocalyptic asteroids: you’re safer than you think
• Understanding Risk Pages By Jon Giorgini
• Revised asteroid scale aids understanding of impact risk
• Near Earth, Objects Scale Helps Risk Communication
• Dealing With the Impact Hazard: An International Project
• The Palermo Technical Impact Hazard Scale
• An Asteroid as Entered the Blogosphere… Should I Be Worried? A commentary by Steven M. Tilley
• International Asteroid Warning Network
• Impact Risk Assessment: An Introduction - Near-Earth Object Program
• Hazardous NEO Technical Reviews
• Frequently Asked Questions For Impact Risk Assessment 
• How to Find an Impact Orbit for the Earth-Asteroid Collision
• The Asteroid/Comet Impact Hazard
• Whom should we call? Data policy for immediate impactors announcements
• NEO Search & Follow-Up
• NEOs' Science pages by Livia Giacomini
• Torino Scale(JPL)
• Find_Orb --- Orbit determination software - Project Pluto
• Guide to Minor Body Astrometry(MPC)
•  Asteroid - Impact Simulator (Impact Earth!) by Purdue University,
• On-line Find_Orb
• 2012 TC4 Planning - JPL radar page
• The 2012 TC4 Observing Campaign  
• Asteroid Flyby to Help NASA Observation
• Astronomical units to Earth radius (AU to RE) 
• The 2012 TC4 Observing Campaign (University of Maryland) 
• The Asteroid 2012 TC4 is Making a Safe Close-Approach on October-12-2017 Please Stand By For a Media Storm