An asteroid swooped right between the Earth and the Moon on
Monday 9th January
An asteroid came
within half the distance from Earth to the Moon, scientists at the Catalina Sky
Survey discovered the asteroid, which is being called asteroid 2017 AG13, on
Saturday 7th January.
The asteroid was between 50-111 feet across and was moving
at about 10 miles (16 kilometers) per second, which was the same size as the
asteroid that hit Russia in 2013. The size of the asteroid coupled with how
fast it was moving and its low albedo (brightness) made it difficult to view
through a telescope.
Asteroid 2017 AH13 is particularly interesting to
astronomers because of its proximity to Earth in a group called the Aten
Asteroids. This asteroid is following an elliptical orbit versus the usual
circular orbit, and crosses through the orbits of both Venus and Earth.
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