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Earth's "Second Moon" Gets Close, Briefly

Posted by timothy on from the check-its-deodorant dept.

angkor writes with a snippet from MSNBC: "An asteroid that behaves something like a second moon to Earth will make its closest approach to our planet next week before shuttling back into deep space for nearly a century."

6 of 10 comments (clear)

  1. First... by Cyno01 · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Thats no moon, Its a battle Station" Post!

    --
    "Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
  2. Who cares? by Tuxinatorium · · Score: 1, Troll

    It's just a 200-foot wide asteroid that the earth-moon system happened to capture. Even if it did hit earth it wouldn't do any serious harm.

    --
    Repeal the DMCA!
    1. Re:Who cares? by Twilight1 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well, you would probably care if it happened to hit in your back yard...

      ...but not for long. ;)

      - Twilight1

    2. Re:Who cares? by Patrik_AKA_RedX · · Score: 1

      "...but not for long. ;)" That depends on the existance of an afterlife. Either he'll care for eternity or for 3ns.

    3. Re:Who cares? by EvilBastard · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I care about this cause it's "orbit" as seen from Earth is Really,Really, Reallyneat.

      Although I admit that everytime I look at the JPL Orbit Diagrams, I feel the urge to load up the original version of Elite

  3. Link to JPL's press release by netjeff · · Score: 2, Informative

    Here's a link directly to JPL's press release:

    http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2003/1.cfm

    There are several interesting anmiations.