Asteroid 2020 LD passed within the moon’s distance on June 5, but wasn’t discovered until June 7. It’s the 45th known and the largest asteroid to sweep within a lunar-distance of Earth so far in 2020.
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We hear a lot about asteroids or comets passing close to Earth, but what does “close” mean? For a comet, it might mean millions of miles. For an asteroid, it might mean enormous distances as well, beyond the moon’s orbital distance of about a quarter-million miles. On the other hand, space rocks coming closer than our moon catch people’s attention, especially if the asteroids are good-sized!
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Asteroid news: Large asteroid passes between Earth and Moon - and no one knew | Science | News |
According to website Earth Sky, it is the biggest asteroid to pass between Earth and the Moon since 2011 and only discovered two days after its pass by.
Earth Sky said: "Asteroid 2020 LD passed within the moon’s distance on June 5, but wasn’t discovered until June 7.
"It’s the 45th known and the largest asteroid to sweep within a lunar-distance of Earth so far in 2020.
"2020 LD isn’t your typical close-passing asteroid. Again, it’s the biggest asteroid to have passed within the moon’s orbit since 2011."
NASA's OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Discovers Sunlight Cracking Rocks on Asteroid Bennu
Examples of disaggregation (top) and linear fractures (bottom) in boulders on asteroid Bennu from images taken by NASA’s OSIRIS-REX spacecraft. In the bottom row, fracture orientations are (d) west-northwest to east-southeast and (e, f) north to south. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
Asteroids don’t just sit there doing nothing as they orbit the Sun. They get bombarded by meteoroids, blasted by space radiation, and now, for the first time, scientists are seeing evidence that even a little sunshine can wear them down.
New Asteroid with a Tail | Asteroids 2020
If you're an astronomy buff, you've probably heard the age-old adage that asteroids are rocky and comets are icy.
The NASA-funded ATLAS is designed to spot potentially hazardous asteroids rocketing through our solar system. The project employs the use of two sky-scanning telescopes. ATLAS 1 is stationed atop Haleakala volcano in Maui, while ATLAS 2 is positioned atop Mauna Loa volcano on the Big Island.
This latest discovery dates back to observations made in July 2019, when ATLAS images revealed a faint asteroid near Jupiter's orbit. The Minor Planet Center dubbed it 2019 LD2, and it quickly became the subject of additional study. Researchers at Queen's University in Belfast and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa later took images that revealed the object was likely a comet due to its icy tail.
Many things are taking place:
Ancient micrometeoroids carried specks of stardust, water to asteroid 4 Vesta
"Like our Earth," Liu said, "Vesta has a core, a mantle and crust," features that formed as the materials melted, differentiated and coalesced into a single planet-like object. And like Earth, Vesta is also pummeled by micrometeoroids. The brightest asteroid in the night sky, Vesta orbits the sun in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
The research team focused on small, dark inclusions in Kapoeta that seemed out of place, like pieces of clay in lava rock. "They look completely different from surrounding material," Liu said. They turned out to be microscopic meteoroids, less than 100 microns across (smaller than the thickness of a human hair), that landed on Vesta's surface.
NASA Tracker: 4 Asteroids To Fly Past Earth This Weekend
NASA's automated asteroid tracking system is currently monitoring four near-Earth objects that are expected to fly past the planet this weekend. According to the data collected by the agency, two of the approaching asteroids follow Earth-intersecting orbits.
The asteroids approaching Earth are being tracked by NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). As noted by CNEOS, three of the four asteroids will enter Earth's vicinity on Saturday (June 13).
Can space rocks on a distant asteroid explain Earth's water? - Futurity
Micrometeoroids that delivered stardust to asteroid 4 Vesta also carried water, researchers report.
The formation of our solar system was a messy affair. Most of the material that existed before its formation—material formed around other, long-dead stars—was vaporized, then recondensed into new materials.
But some grains of that material from before the sun’s birth still persist. These “stardust” grains arrived on Earth inside primitive meteorites.
16 asteroids are set to fly past Earth in June — one that's more than twice the size of the
Lunar Distance (LD) is the measurement used. It is comparable how far the asteroid will be from the Earth in relation to how far the Moon is from the planet.
An LD of 1 would mean that it will be as close to Earth as the Moon — approximately 384,400 kilometres. An LD of 2 would mean twice as far and an LD of 3 would mean thrice as far. The lower the LD, the closer the asteroid will be to Earth.
It's important to note that while the Centre of Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) tags these asteroids as 'potentially hazardous' — it's only to ensure that someone is keeping an eye on them in case they change trajectory or pose an imminent threat. As on now, all of them — close and far — will be far from Earth and don't pose a risk of actually crashing into the planet.
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