Two small asteroids will pass near Earth today. These celestial objects do not represent a threat, nor will they be detectable with the naked eye, as explained by Donald Yeomans, head of NASA's Near Earth program , which tracks potentially dangerous asteroids and comets for our planet in a radius of tens of millions. kilometers.
The first of the objects is the asteroid 2010 RX30 , with an estimated diameter of 10 to 20 meters, which will approach 248,000 kilometers from Earth. The second, 2010 RF12 , of a similar size, will pass only 0.2 times the distance between the Moon and the Earth , that is, 79,000 kilometers. Its moments of greatest proximity to Earth will coincide with positions over the Pacific and Antarctica, respectively.
Both stellar objects were discovered on Sunday, September 5, by the Catalina Sky Survey telescope , located near Tucson, Arizona. Although it is estimated that 50 million small bodies pass more or less close to the Earth each day, these two asteroids will do so at less distance than the Moon and on the same day, which has encouraged NASA to invite astronomers amateurs to try to locate them with their telescopes. Those interested can find more information on the Asteroid Watch page and via Twitter, following @asteroidwatch.
