We know they're coming: Two asteroids to whizz by Earth tomorrow

By Tom Beal, Arizona Daily Star
September 7, 2010 3:59 pm

Two asteroids will whizz by Earth Wednesday, close enough for amateur astronomers with decent-sized telescopes to see them.

Asteroids, those rocky remnants from the formation of the inner planets in our solar system, pass within the orbit of the moon a couple times a month, said Paul Chodas, research scientist at NASA’s Near Earth Object program office.

What’s exciting about tomorrow’s event is that we know they’re coming.

The two were spotted by Andrea Boattini of the UA’s Lunar and Planetary Lab, using a telescope on Mount Lemmon, one of three telescopes that make up the Catalina Sky Survey, the most productive asteroid-spotting outfit on the planet.

“Catalina gets lots of kudos for finding these,â€