Earth’s Close Encounter Comes Monday… Really

It could be as small as an SUV or the better part of a football field. Like Earth it’s orbiting the Sun.

There’s this rock. No one’s really sure how big it is. It could be as small as an SUV or the better part of a football field. Like Earth it’s orbiting the Sun. Monday it will be very close to us!

Near-Earth asteroid 2011 MD was found by the LINEAR project. Asteroids stick out against the field of stars because they move through the sky at a different rate. LINEAR photographs patches of the sky five times a night.

Nothing’s going to strike us. The asteroid will be about 7,500 miles away Monday at 9:30 AM. That’s still awful close.

Scientists at NASA/JPL’s Near-Earth Object Program Office says something like this happens every six years or so.

4 thoughts on “Earth’s Close Encounter Comes Monday… Really”

  1. I am surprised that the end of the earth fanatics aren’t screaming about this……….I know someone that keeps saying that the end of the world is coming because Comet Elinin (Nibiru) is heading our way. I was told to move into the mountains!

    1. I heard something like that too from a family member… seriously, would living in the mountains make a difference?

      1. Since it will miss us, no. Even if it would hit I can’t see how the mountains would protect against anything but a potential tsunami. Is that what they fear?

  2. Comet Elinin at its nearest pass to the Earth will be 22 million miles, in comparison to NEO2011ND its quite some distance away and you probably won’t even be able to see it without a telescope. At 7,500 miles this is a very close shave given how big space is and also at 7,500 miles the Earth will have some gravitational effect on it (and also on us due to newtons law albeit very tiny)

    Comet Elenin is coming, and it will pass by Earth at an extremely safe distance – 100 times the distance from Earth to the Moon. It will not change direction between now and then, it will not exert any gravitational effect on Earth due to the distance, its magnetic field is nonexistent (there are no magnetic fields on comets) and there are no Death Stars cruising in its wake. The biggest effect it will have on Earth is what we are able to learn about it as it passes

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