Stranger in the Night: Space Rock to Make Close Earth Flyby A little-known asteroid will skim past Earth on 15 February, passing just 28 000 km from our planet. The 50 m-diameter chunk of space rock was discovered in last year by ESA-sponsored amateur astronomers in Spain. Details of the ancient asteroid, 2012 DA14, are sketchy – no direct measurements of its size are available. From its brightness, scientists estimate its diameter at 50–80 m. Its composition is unknown and its mass is thought to be of the order of 130 000 tonnes. What is known is that it will not impact Earth anytime soon. Full Article Credit: ESO

Stranger in the Night: Space Rock to Make Close Earth Flyby

A little-known asteroid will skim past Earth on 15 February, passing just 28 000 km from our planet. The 50 m-diameter chunk of space rock was discovered in last year by ESA-sponsored amateur astronomers in Spain.

Details of the ancient asteroid, 2012 DA14, are sketchy – no direct measurements of its size are available. From its brightness, scientists estimate its diameter at 50–80 m. Its composition is unknown and its mass is thought to be of the order of 130 000 tonnes.

What is known is that it will not impact Earth anytime soon.

Full Article

Credit: ESO


Posted 3 months ago with 64 notes
Tagged: ● asteroid ● Asteroid 2012 DA14 ● science ● Astronomy ● astrophysics ● space ● ESO ● gif ● asteroid gif

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