Saturday, November 7, 2009

Near earth object 2009 VA...

(a small asteroid) zipped by Earth yesterday ~14,000 km from the surface, well within the orbits of geosynchronous satellites. Here's the scoop from Spaceweather.com:
"If it had hit, the ~6-meter wide space rock would have disintegrated in the atmosphere as a spectacular fireball, causing no significant damage to the ground. 2009 VA was discovered just 15 hours before closest approach by astronomers working at the Catalina Sky Survey."
Close shave.

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