Asteroid GP59 makes an “ Appearance”
April 16th 2011 01:51
Category: Cosmic Objects
Asteroid GP59 image by CarlCan
An asteroid about the size of a small bus named GP59 will pass "close" by Earth on April 15, 2011, the first of many pieces of space debris scheduled to fly pass our Earth over the next few months , asteroid GP59 poses no threat of hitting us.
An asteroid making an Earthly “flyover” is not necessarily that “close”. Some media sources make out that any asteroid making a “close” pass is good for selling news media.
Although any encounter with a piece of real estate from space should be treated with caution.
Nick James form England is credited for making this video.
GP59 2 will cruse by at a distance of about 533,000 kilometers (330,000 miles) that`s almost twice the distance the Moon is in regards to Earth.
Many pieces of space debris asteroids, meteors “pass by” Earth on a regular basis and most of us are not even aware that they did so. Take a quick look at Global Asteroid Events this web site makes interesting reading.
Global Asteroid Events Link
The size is an approximation something in the order of 50 meters in diameter. The asteroid seems to be spinning very rapidly which accounts for the change in brightness as it spins. The object must be quite elongated more cylindrical in shape than spherical.
The video shows the small faint speeding object travelling from left to right.
It is likely that asteroidGP59’s approach will occur sometime Friday around 2:50 pm Eastern Time (US). You will not be able to see it without a telescope.
| 50 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
