February 6, 2013

An asteroid will pass close to Earth next week


An asteroid diameter of 46 meters on 15 February will next between Earth and its communication satellites, without causing damage because its route will be 27,000 kilometers of land area, according to the National Aeronautics and Space (NASA).

"Since the start of regular surveys of the heavens, in the 1990s, astronomers had never seen such a large object so close to our planet. Asteroid travels at a speed of 28,100 kilometers per hour," said NASA through a
press release.

The space object that was discovered almost a year ago from an observatory in southern Spain, will pass over the Indian Ocean off Sumatra, Indonesia, at 13:24 (Central Time Mexico).

According to NASA, this approach is the largest in decades, being an object of this type, the following will be the Feb. 16, 2046.

In 1908, a similar type asteroid entered the atmosphere and exploded over Tunguska, Russia. There are at least 500 thousand asteroids similar in size, of which less than 1 percent have been discovered.