Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Attack of the tiny asteroid

Okay, attack might be a strong word. Discovered just last week was a tiny asteroid – 3-10 feet across and its heading this way. Granted it will pass Earth at a safe 148,000 mile plus or minus, and yes, it is actually smaller than the 55-60 foot size of the Russian Asteroid.


The asteroid is 2013 RZ53 – catchy isn’t it? It belongs to the group of asteroids known as the near-Earth asteroids. Researchers with the Mount Lemmon Survey at University of Arizona made the find. The project in which they are involved is a NASA-sponsored program called the Catalina Sky Survey one which scans the cosmos for potentially dangerous asteroids. That the asteroid was discovered only last week might seem disturbing, but the project searches out asteroids & comets that could be a danger to earth might account for the recent notice as an asteroid of this size would likely burn up on entry and would never be considered a danger to Earth

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