Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Asteroid Near-Miss

While most of us were busy riding home from work in peak afternoon traffic, an asteroid passed within 202,000 miles of earth. (For some perspective, the distance between the Earth and Moon is approximately 239,000 miles.) The asteroid is about 1/4 mile in width and made its closest approach to earth at about 5:28pm local time.

This asteroid is a little unusual in that it is largely composed of carbon-based materials, and possibly even water. (Most asteroids are made of rock.) This is called the 2005 YU55 asteroid... It could make another trip toward earth in 2029, and possibly even hit the earth in 2036.

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