17 January 2010

Both a Near-Miss and a Record-Setting Detection



From: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34826596/ns/technology_and_science-space/ A near-Earth object hurtled past us on Wednesday, just two days after its discovery was announced.
Orbital projections indicated that the object called 2010 AL30 flew by Earth at a distance of just 80,000 miles (130,000 kilometers). That's only one-third of the way from here to the moon.
If the object had been on a collision course with Earth, it wouldn't have done any damage anyway. But planetary scientists said the asteroid, or whatever it was, set a new standard: A 10-meter-wide (33-foot-wide) asteroid can be detected two days before it potentially hits Earth.

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