Asteroid To Pass By Earth On Wednesday
Posted on: Wednesday, 18 March 2009, 11:40 CDT
A small asteroid will fly past Earth early tomorrow morning (Wed., March 18). The asteroid, 2009 FH, is about 50 feet (15 meters) wide. Its closest approach to Earth will occur at 5:17 a.m. PDT (8:17 a.m. EDT, 12:17 UTC) at an altitude of about 49,000 miles (79,000 kilometers).
"This asteroid flyby will be a good viewing opportunity for both professional and amateur astronomers," said Don Yeomans of the Near-Earth Object Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "The asteroid poses no risk of impact to Earth now or for the foreseeable future."
NASA detects and tracks asteroids and comets passing close to Earth. The Near Earth Object Observation Program, commonly called "Spaceguard," plots the orbits of these objects to determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet.
---
On the Net:
Related Articles
- NASA Scientists Get First Images of Earth Flyby Asteroid
- Earth's Oldest Known Object on Display
- Near-Earth Asteroid Search Heads South
- Fungi Revived the Earth After Asteroid Impact
- Scientists studying methods to protect Earth from asteroids
- Scientists discuss protecting Earth from asteroids
- Group Talks Defending Earth From Asteroid
- Object Near Space Station Said No Threat
- A UK Flotilla To Study Earth-Grazing Asteroids
- Earth and Asteroid Play Orbital Cat and Mouse Game
 |
 |
User Comments (1)
| 1. |
Posted by kiran on 03/20/2009, 07:11 Here is an excellent animation video of the closest approach of Asteroid 2009 FH on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyXzqTSJZKI . Earlier animation of DD45 also can be found by the same author. |
RSS Feeds