Tunguska-sized Space Rock Buzzes Earth

What! Only after it passes earth do we get the news, 72,000 km passing near earth is a alot closer than most people think for a 50metre wide asteroid.

From Source:
An asteroid about the size of the one that levelled the forest in Tunguska, Siberia, a century ago flew past Earth on Monday - well within the Moon's orbit. The risk of a future impact with the object is not yet known.

The asteroid, dubbed 2008 DD45, whizzed just 72,000 kilometres above the Earth's surface. That is less than a fifth of the distance to the Moon and just twice the distance to geosynchronous satellites.

The object was first reported on Saturday by members of the Siding Spring Survey, a near-Earth object search programme based in Australia.

Based on its brightness, the asteroid seems to be between 20 and 50 metres across, says Timothy Spahr of the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center. That rivals the size of the asteroid, estimated to be as small as 30 metres, that slammed into Tunguska, Siberia in 1908, creating a powerful blast that levelled 2000 square kilometres of forest.

LINK TO SOURCE


[edit on 2/3/09 by free_spirit_earth]

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oOPS Sorry i tried searching couldn't find it..thanks anyway..

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Surprise Asteroid Makes Near-Miss of Earth

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