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Wednesday, March 04, 2009

S&T Watch-52: "Space Rock gives Earth a Close Shave"

An asteroid of a size similar to a rock that exploded above Siberia in 1908 with the force of a thousand atomic bombs whizzed past the earth on Monday, March 2, 2009, astronomers said on Tuesday.
2009 DD45, estimated to be between 21 and 47 metres across, raced by at 13.44 GMT, the Planetary Society and astronomers' blogs reported.
The gap was just 72,000 km, or a fifth of the distance between the earth and the moon and only twice the height of a satellite in geosynchronous orbit, the website space.com said.
The estimated size is similar to that of an asteroid or comet that exploded above Tunguska, Siberia, on June 30, 1908, flattening 80 million trees in a swathe of more than 2000 sq.km.
Excerpt from AFP news item entitled, "Space Rock gives Earth a Close Shave" in The Hindu, Madurai, March 4, 2009.
Grateful thanks to AFP and The Hindu.

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