Asteroid Set To Pass Earth This Afternoon

15 Feb 2013 by Jasmine Stone in Environment, Very Cool

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Asteroid 2012 D14 is set to bypass earth this afternoon. Scientists estimate the asteroid to be half the size of a football field and could experience “violent tremours” due to earth’s gravitational pull. There is even the possibility of the asteroid interrupting telecommunications when it passes. The asteroid will pass 27 680 km away from earth.

Richard Binzel, Professor of Planetary Science at MIT, says that this will be the first opportunity to see “an event on such an object from earth”.

Gravitational forces during the flybys can stretch, rattle and torque these asteroids, causing dark, space-weathered material on the surface to be overturned, revealing the fresh stuff underneath

Expected to occur this afternoon, we wait with baited breathe.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

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