Wednesday, September 15, 2010

2 asteroids zipped past Earth

 

NASA scientists monitor two large asteroids have narrowly avoided the earth after the objects passed within the moon and our planet’s orbit.

The two objects were only identified at the weekend by the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona, during a routine sky scan.

The first asteroid, christened 2010 RX30, was about 65 feet in diameter and flew past at a distance of 154,000 miles early at 9:51am on Wednesday.

The second, called 2010 RF12, was roughly two-thirds the size of its big brother and estimated to pass within just 49,088 miles of Earth hours later.

While they were visible to many amateur stargazers, space agency researchers said neither asteroid posed a risk to earth.

[Source Telegraph]

No comments:

Post a Comment