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Asteroid near-miss projected
for 2029
Posted Feb. 16, 2005
Special to World Science
An asteroid will pass within three Earth-widths of our planet on Friday, April 13, 2029—close enough that Earth’s gravity will deflect the rocky
object considerably, scientists said.
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This diagram shows the projected path of
the asteroid in blue. Since there is some uncertainty in the path, The
small white line crossing the blue line near the Earth shows the range
of possible alternative paths the asteroid could take in that area. The
white circle represents the Moon's orbit. (Images courtesy NASA Near
Earth Object Program Office)
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But there is no chance it will hit us, added the researchers, with NASA’s Near Earth Object Program Office.
“On average, one would expect a similarly close Earth approach by an asteroid of this size only every 1300 years or so,” said Paul Chodas, of the NASA office, and colleagues in a statement issued earlier this month.
From its brightness,
astronomers have calculated that the object is about 400 meters (1300 feet)
wide.
The researchers said their calculations for the approach of the asteroid, called 2004 MN4, come from radar observations taken at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico in late January.
There is still no exact agreement on what path the asteroid will take, but the researchers said they have narrowed it down to a small range of possibilies, none of which involve an Earth crash.
They added that the asteroid will probably be visible with the naked eye around the time of its passage.
It will come much closer to the Earth than the Moon is, they said, adding that there is also no chance it will strike the Moon.
—EJL
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