From: Walter Watts (wlwatts@home.com)
Date: Tue Jan 08 2002 - 13:09:21 MST
This thing was only discovered 12/26/01.
520,000 miles!
I guess that's about all the warning we'll get
when the one with OUR name on it comes to visit.
Walter
------------------------------------------------
Immense Asteroid Passes Earth
01/08/2002 2:06 PM EST
An asteroid large enough to wipe out France hurtled past the Earth at a
distance of a half-million miles just days after scientists spotted it.
The asteroid, dubbed 2001 YB5, came within 520,000 miles of Earth on
Monday, approximately twice the distance of the moon.
Dozens of asteroids pass close by the Earth each year, though 2001 YB5
was closer than most. On Friday, for instance, an asteroid known as 2001
UU92 will pass with 11 million miles of Earth.
Asteroid 2001 YB5, estimated to be 1,000 feet across, was traveling
about 68,000 mph relative to the Earth when it zipped past.
"It's a fairly substantial rock. If it had hit us at that sort of speed,
you would be taking out a medium-size country, France, I suppose, or
Texas, or something of that order," said Jay Tate, director of the
Spaceguard Centre in Wales.
Astronomers with the NASA's Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking program
discovered 2001 YB5 on Dec. 26. Soon after, astronomers calculated the
asteroid's orbit and determined there was no danger it would strike
Earth.
As astronomers discover more and more near-Earth asteroids, they seek a
standardized way of alerting the public to the hazard they might pose.
Among programs already in place is the Spaceguard Centre's Comet and
Asteroid Information Network, which began work Jan. 1.
-- Walter Watts Tulsa Network Solutions, Inc.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Sep 25 2002 - 13:28:38 MDT