(meteorobs) BULLETIN! Extremely close pass of a NEO on Monday night!

[Skywayinc at aol.com]

_http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/40504617.html_ 
(http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/40504617.html) 

Space Rock 2009 DD45 Buzzes Earth

Late word out of the IAU's Minor Planet Center: a small  asteroid (about 
100-feet 
in diameter) will pass close to Earth tomorrow (March  2nd) at 13:44 
Universal Time
or 8:44 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. 
 
How close? The MPC's Timothy Spahr now calculates that  it'll be 0.00047 
astronomical unit from Earth's center. That translates to  43,689 miles, or 39,726 
miles from the Earth's
surface — well inside the Moon's orbit and less  than twice the altitude of 
most 
communications satellites!

_http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/01/208251_ 
(http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/01/208251) 

_http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/MPEph/MPEph.html_ 
(http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/MPEph/MPEph.html) 
 
By the way, this isn't the closest "near-miss"  asteroidal fragment on 
record. 
_According to the MPC,_ (http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/lists/Closest.html)  
tiny 2004 FU162 skirted just 4,000 miles from us on 
March 31, 2004.

-- joe rao
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