https://www.iflscience.com/space/asteroid-as-large-as-a-mountain-will-fly-near-earth-this-weekend/
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ARTIST’S IMPRESSION OF AN ASTEROID NEAR EARTH. IMAGE CREDIT: DIMA ZEL/SHUTTERSTOCK.COMhttps://f67d71ea7a24fd28d1763a80320868c5.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
By Dr Alfredo Carpineti
On Saturday, August 21, a potentially hazardous asteroid will safely fly past Earth at a distance of just3.4 million kilometers(2.1 million miles),the closest approach for several decades. That’s just 8.9 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
Asteroid 2016 AJ193 is larger than 99 percent of all known Near-Earth objects and so it is good to keep an eye on it.
The space rock measures 1.37 kilometers (0.85 miles) according to measurements fromNASA’s spacecraft NEOWISE. It is also surprisingly dark, reflecting very little light back making this close (and safe) approach an important chance to better study the object.
It was discovered by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) facility –…
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