Asteroid on track for close encounter

Subject: Asteroid on track for close encounter Tue Nov 08, 2011 4:10 am

AN asteroid four times the length of a football field will pass closer to Earth than the moon when it hurtles through our solar system tomorrow morning.

Asteroid on track for close encounter Vd-Asteroid-408x264

Asteroid on track for close encounter Vd-Asteroid-408x264

The asteroid is the first object of its size to come so close to the Earth, flying within 320,000 kilometres of our planet, in more than 30 years.

But its trajectory has been well studied since it was discovered in 2005 and there was no threat of an Earth collision for at least the next 100 years, NASA says.

Nor was there any risk the rock, known as 2005 YU55, would make contact with the moon or any other celestial body when it zooms past at close to 19 kilometres a second relative to the Earth's speed.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/asteroid-on-track-for-close-encounter-20111107-1n3ve.html#ixzz1d6Smk4wP

Asteroid on track for close encounter

Asteroid on track for close encounter

Anarcho-Capitalist Categorical Imperatives

AnCaps In Science, Technology & Environment