Missing Potential Earth-Busting Asteroid Found 80
Billosaur writes "A potentially disastrous 40-year-old mystery has been solved: Where is asteroid 6344 P-L? Back in 1960, asteroid 6344 P-L was identified and classified as a 'Potentially Hazardous Asteroid,' meaning that its orbit brings it perilously close to Earth's orbit (on the cosmic scale). Unfortunately, it then disappeared, or more precisely, was lost from view. Flash forward to 2007 and scientists believe that 6344 P-L has been rediscovered as 2007 RR9. Further, they are not sure it is an actual asteroid, but actually a comet fragment, which won't hit the Earth anytime soon but bears watching."
Re:That Close! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Black or brown bears? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:So close (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, this year it's going to be within 0.7 AU (~6.5 million miles), but it has a closest observed approach of 0.05 AU. For reference, it's useful to know that the term AU (Astronomical Unit [wikipedia.org]) is derived from an approximation of the average distance of the Earth from the Sun (which is assigned the distance of 1 AU accordingly). Additionally, our moon averages at approximately 0.0025 AU from the Earth, so we're talking about an object which has passed within 2 moon-lengths from us during observation.
So:
Re:So close (Score:3, Informative)
Re:OT: slashdot, allright (Score:3, Informative)