Asteroid to pass near earth...

macedoniaonline.eu...

A recently discovered small asteroid will pass by the Earth on Thursday, but poses no risk of striking, US space scientists said.


The orb will come just 395,000 kilometers (223,000 miles) from Earth -- a hair's breadth away in astronomical terms. At its closest, it will be closer to Earth than our Moon is, scientists said.

The asteroid, approximately 22 meters (71 feet) wide, was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey, Tucson, Arizona. It will come nearest to Earth at about 2300 GMT Thursday.

That is very close to the earth. I will be watching the sky tonight.

Good find! It's not often (I don't think) that we have a charted object come that close. I'll have to visit the site and see if it gives any info on where it can be viewed from.

S&F!

[edit on 8-4-2010 by westcoast]

Updated:

With additional observations coming in, scientists at NASA's Near-Earth Object Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. have been able to further refine the trajectory estimate for the orbit of asteroid 2010 GA6. This latest trajectory indicates that the closest approach for asteroid 2010 GA6 will be just slightly beyond the moon's orbit, about 434,000 kilometers (270,000 miles) from Earth. The time of closest approach will be 7:06 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on April 8 (2:06 U.T.C. on April 9).

Link

Edit to add: It will be further away than the moon now is what the update is. And at approximate 16-20 visual magnitude its going to be very very hard to see

[edit on 8-4-2010 by SecretUsername]

This has already been discussed in previous threads. Unfortunately, this asteroid is must to small to be seen without some serious equipment. Despite its close approach, it's even fainter than Pluto.

Yeah, I'm diss'ed too.

Diameter of 71 feet? I wouldn't be worried if a direct strike were projected, unless it was over land, moving incredibly fast or was solid iron (or an exotic element).

The atmosphere should reduce that house sized object to smaller than a VW Beetle by the time it hit.

[edit on 8-4-2010 by Ahabstar]