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Thisstory was updated at 5:49 a.m. ET on Apr 30.
Anasteroid on the list of potentially dangerous space rocks that could endangerthe Earth was held on camera as it zoomed past the world this month, andfound to be incomparable than astronomers creatively thought.
Theasteroid buzzed the Earth on Apr nineteen and came inside of 1.5 million miles (2.4million km) of the planet. Thats about 6 times the area in in between Earthand the moon.
Astronomersused the heavenly air wave detector complement on the famous Arecibo air wave telescope inArecibo, Puerto Rico to mark the asteroid, called 2005YU55, over 4 days starting on Apr 19. The print suggested the asteroidas a halflit space stone drifting by the solar system.
Atone time we had personal 2005 YU55 as a intensity threat, pronounced SteveChesley, a scientist with NASAs NearEarth Object Program Office at the JetPropulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. [More asteroid photos.]
Chesleysaid the new Arecibo observations have authorised astronomers to order out anychance of 2005 YU55 attack Earth in the subsequent 100 years. Additionalobservations will assistance improved labour those projections, he said.
TheArecibo observations suggested a little astonishing new sum about the nearbyspace rock.
Theastronomers found that the asteroid is about 1,300 feet (400 meters) in area �about a quartermile (400 meters) prolonged and twice as big as creatively thought.The Arecibo telescopes heavenly air wave detector complement resolved facilities on theasteroid down to about twenty-five feet (7.5 meters).
Asteroid2005 YU55 was initial detected by astronomer Robert McMillan, of the Spacewatchdetection team, on Dec. 28, 2005. And this isnt the usually possibility astronomerswill have to investigate 2005 YU55.
Thespace stone will be back.
OnNov. 8, 2011, the asteroid will finish an additional outing around the object and swingby Earth again usually inside the moons orbit. It should fly by at a area of191,120 miles (307,577 km), about eighttenths the area in in between Earth andthe moon. The area from Earth to the moon is on normal about 238,900 miles(384,472 km).
Theasteroid poses no risk of impacting the Earth when it earnings subsequent year, thoughastronomers will keep examination the trail by space.
NASAroutinely marks asteroids and comets that might fly nearby the Earth with anetwork of telescopes on the belligerent and in space. The agencys NearEarthObject Observations module is obliged for anticipating potentially dangerousasteroids and investigate their orbits to establish if they poise a risk of hittingthe Earth.
Sofar, the module has found about 85 percent of the outrageous asteroids that fly nearby Earth,but it hasnt been utterly as great at anticipating rocks that are smaller. The programdetected usually fifteen percent of space rocks that are 460feet (140meters) far-reaching andcould potentially means drawn out extinction at their stroke sites if they strike us,according to a new inform by the National Academy of Sciences.
Only5 percent of asteroids 164feet (50meters) opposite have been found, the reportfound. More appropriation is indispensable if NASA hopes to reach a Congressmandated goalof tracking all potentially dangerous space rocks.
PresidentBarack Obama has due a bill enlarge in NASAs asteroidtracking programthat would progress the resources from $3.7 million in 2009 to $20.3 million in2011. The module perceived a $2 million enlarge in 2010 to await the Arecibotelescope.
Obamahas additionally due promulgation astronauts to revisit an asteroid by 2025 to investigate itand accumulate interpretation that could assistance astronomers find ways to inhibit space rocks prior to they threatenall hold up on Earth.
TheArecibo Observatory is piece of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Centerwhich is managed by Cornell University underneath a understanding with the National ScienceFoundation. Astronomers with Cornell, NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory,California Institute of Technology and the University of Maine participated inthe watching of asteroid 2005 YU55.
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