Thread: Earth to Get Close Shave Wednesday A.M. From Asteroid

Earth to Get Close Shave Wednesday From Newly Discovered Asteroid

By Alexis Madrigal January 12, 2010 | 4:16 pm

An asteroid 30 to 50 feet across will pass by the Earth at just more than one-third the distance between the Earth and the Moon on Wednesday. That’s the closest near-Earth object approach currently known between now and the flyby in 2024 of a similar-size object known as 2007 XB23.

The new asteroid, called 2010 AL30, was discovered by the NASA-funded Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research program, and announced Monday by the Minor Planet Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.

The short amount of time between the spotting of the object and its near intersection with Earth is a good reminder that humans don’t know every object that could come hurtling out of space and collide with our planet.

“Visitors frequently ask me if I worry about the NEOs that I measure,â€

• A recently discovered asteroid will zip past Earth at a relatively close 80,000 miles — about a third of the distance to the moon.

The near-miss happens at 7:47 a.m. ET. Eagle-eyed sky-gazers in the West might be able to see the 30-to-50-foot-wide space rock with a good telescope.

(4:47 a.m. pst)