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NASA: 1,000 Near-Earth Objects Larger than One Kilometer Sighted
Thursday, July 25, 2013 4:16
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Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are asteroids and comets that can approach the Earth’s orbital distance to within about 28 million miles (45 million kilometers).
They range in size from as small as a few feet to as large as 25 miles (41 kilometers) for the largest near-Earth asteroid, 1036 Ganymed.
More than 10,000 asteroids and comets that can pass near Earth have now been discovered.
The 10,000th near-Earth object, asteroid 2013 MZ5, was first detected on the night of June 18, 2013, by the Pan-STARRS-1 telescope, located on the 10,000-foot (3,000-meter) summit of the Haleakala crater on Maui.
Watch the video: NASA: 1,000 Near-Earth Objects Larger than One Kilometer Sighted
Image credit: http://b612foundation.org/tag/rusty-schweickart/
Of the 10,000 discoveries, roughly 10 percent are larger than six tenths of a mile (one kilometer) in size – roughly the size that could produce global consequences should one impact the Earth.
The Daily Galaxy via NASA
The Daily Galaxy
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