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posted by cmn32480 on Monday January 09 2017, @11:54PM   Printer-friendly
from the missed-it-by-that-much dept.

[Time sensitive but remove breaking news nexus]

An asteroid with the potential to harm thousands of Earthlings was detected just two days before it passed by Earth:

A smallish asteroid zoomed past Earth this morning (Jan. 9), just two days after scientists first spotted the space rock. The asteroid, known as 2017 AG13, flew by our planet at just half the distance from Earth to the moon today at 7:47 a.m. EST (1247 GMT). (On average, the moon lies about 239,000 miles, or 385,000 kilometers, from Earth.) You can learn more about today's flyby in this video of asteroid 2017 AG13 from Slooh.com, which includes details on the space rock from Slooh Community Observatory astronomer Eric Edelman.

2017 AG13 is thought to be between 36 and 111 feet (11 to 34 meters) wide, according to astronomers at the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For perspective, the object that exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February 2013, injuring more than 1,000 people, was thought to be about 65 feet (20 m) wide.

See also: NASA Formalizes Planetary Defense Coordination Office to Track Asteroids
NASA and FEMA Conduct Asteroid Threat Response Exercise
NASA Office to Coordinate Asteroid Detection, Hazard Mitigation


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @12:42AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @12:42AM (#451787)

    > Guess they don't want to panick the unwashed masses.

    Or... it literally wasn't on their radar. They aren't omniscient and once it was detected it was immediately known that the trajectory made it harmless.
    So not really big news.

  • (Score: 2, Funny) by bob_super on Tuesday January 10 2017, @12:59AM

    by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday January 10 2017, @12:59AM (#451794)

    Don't worry, ISIS will claim it, Trump will tweet about the surveillance agency's incompetence, and then it will be the only topic on the news for 24 hours.