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Three Large, Near-Earth Asteroids, Two of Which Measure About 20 km in diameter The Largest Asteroids to Have Been Discovered in 23 Years
Last week, scientists in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences helped characterize three large, near-Earth asteroids, two of which measure about 12 miles in diameter — the largest asteroids to have been discovered in 23 years. The smallest of the three asteroids measures little more than a mile across, but it may pass within 3.4 million miles of Earth, making it a “potentially hazardous asteroid.”
Watch the video here:NEOS Close Approaches in November 2013 Many Large Fireball Events Expected – Be Ready https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP3Yr5j2zKg
The orbits of the newly discovered asteroids (yellow) compared to the Earth (blue) and the positions of many main belt asteroids (red dots) on Nov. 5, 2013.
Figure 2 (updated Nov 6, 2013): The orbits of 2013 UQ4, 2013 US10 and 2013 UP8 are shown as viewed from within the plane of the solar system (ecliptic plane), which makes clear their highly inclined orbits relative to Earth’s orbit.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Surprising Recent Discoveries of Three Large Near-Earth Objects
NASA – Near Earth Object Program http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news181.html
Good News, Everyone: Asteroid 2013 TV135 No Longer a Threat
SLATE.com http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/11/07/good_asteroid_news_tv135_no_longer_a_threat.html?wpisrc=burger_bar
