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Bus-Sized Asteroid Passes Between Satellites and Earth (+Video)
Bus-Sized Asteroid Passes Between Satellites and Earth
Astronomers spotted an asteroid this week after it had flown past Earth on a course that took it so close to the planet it was below the orbits of some satellites.
The bus-sized space rock (25 feet) flew by Earth a mere 29,500 km away.This distance is around one tenth the distance of the moon from the Earth.
The asteroid passed just under the orbits of geostationary satellites, which at 22,300 miles (36,000 kilometers) altitude are the highest manmade objects circling Earth. Most other satellites, along with the International Space Station, circle the planet at just a fewhundred miles up.
The space rock approached Earth from near the Sun and so would have been nearly impossible to detect prior to close passage.
Astronomers are aware of this significant blind spot for asteroids that approach Earth while in the glare of the Sun. Only a space telescope could detect such objects before they arrive. Over the last few decades, scientists are growing increasingly concerned about the risk of a giant space rock crashing into the planet.
While the danger is very real as evidenced by the 2013 Chelyabinsk incident near misses are actually pretty common. NASA scientists estimate that around 20 known asteroids pass very close to the Earth every year.
Asteroid 2015 SK7
Distance 0.07 LD – Estimated Size 25 feet
Clsosest approach Sept. 22 2015 http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/2015sk7.html#summary
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ca/
http://www.hohmanntransfer.com/mn/15/15268_0925.htm#K15S91
http://spaceweather.com/
NASA- Needs A Smart Astronomer.
When you are talking about these if it comes inside of the moons orbit, well that’s damn close. Inside our satellites…ummmm….that’s as close as it gets. Without getting splatted, that is. There are millions of these whizzing around, NASA can’t be on top of all of them.
WAit.. You’re sayinmg that if it had been ever so slightly different trajectory, it would have hit the earth on the 23RD? Wow…
Lucky we dont have request stops in space and it was not a number 9! ( This is engliand UK joke in case not understood by our USA Freinds) (Grin)
This is just computer generated horse s ht. It’s laughable. It looks like the photo was taken from a point on the other side of the moon looking back at the earth which looks rediculously small and fully lit up. I remember looking at a photo of our milky way galaxy that nasa put out. If that photo of our galaxy was real, then how were they able to travel that far outside our galaxy to snap the photo? We are all being constantly lied to over, and over about our past and present. Especially by nasa.
this website puts out so much bulls hit.