OFF: The dangers of Cosmic Rock

[K Henderson]

Surprising asteroid whizzes past Earth

Space Shorts: Cosmic rock came within a half-million miles

Jan. 8 —  An asteroid large enough to wipe out France hurtled past Earth at
a distance of a half-million miles just days after scientists spotted it.
The asteroid, dubbed 2001 YB5, came within 520,000 miles of Earth on Monday,
approximately twice the distance of the moon.

DOZENS OF ASTEROIDS pass close by the Earth each year, though 2001 YB5 was
closer than most. On Friday, for instance, an asteroid known as 2001 UU92
will pass with 11 million miles of Earth. Asteroid 2001 YB5, estimated to be
1,000 feet (300 meters) across, was traveling about 68,000 mph (108,000
kilometers per hour) relative to the Earth when it zipped past.

“It’s a fairly substantial rock. If it had hit us at that sort of speed, you
would be taking out a medium-size country, France, I suppose, or Texas, or
something of that order,” said Jay Tate, director of the Spaceguard Center in
Wales.

Astronomers with the NASA’s Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking program discovered
2001 YB5 on Dec. 26. Soon after, astronomers calculated the asteroid’s orbit
and determined there was no danger it would strike Earth.

Had it been on a collision course, it would have created “one of the worst
disasters in human history,” said Steven Pravdo, the Near-Earth Asteroid
Tracking project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

“What could we have done about it? The answer is, not much,” Pravdo said.

As astronomers discover more and more near-Earth asteroids, they seek a
standardized way of alerting the public to the hazard they might pose. Among
programs already in place is the Spaceguard Center’s Comet and Asteroid
Information Network, which began work Jan. 1.