Missing Asteroid
Found
LOWELL OBSERVATORY, Ariz. (UPI) -- An astronomer has accidentally found a missing asteroid, one that has a history of getting very close to our planet, NewScientist.com reported. Known as Asteroid 1937 UB, or "Hermes" for short, the asteroid set a record for closest recorded approach to the Earth on Oct. 30, 1937. In the 66 years since then it had not been located.
Because Hermes is as much as 1.2 miles in diameter it could cause global devastation if it ever hit Earth. Brian Skiff of the Lowell Observatory in Arizona spotted an interesting bright object with the LONEOS telescope in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Recognizing from its motion that it was close to the Earth, he alerted the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. After that he and other scientists were able to work together to identify the object as Hermes, which will again pass Earth Nov. 4 -- by a comfortable margin of 4.2 million miles.
LOWELL OBSERVATORY, Ariz. (UPI) -- An astronomer has accidentally found a missing asteroid, one that has a history of getting very close to our planet, NewScientist.com reported. Known as Asteroid 1937 UB, or "Hermes" for short, the asteroid set a record for closest recorded approach to the Earth on Oct. 30, 1937. In the 66 years since then it had not been located.
Because Hermes is as much as 1.2 miles in diameter it could cause global devastation if it ever hit Earth. Brian Skiff of the Lowell Observatory in Arizona spotted an interesting bright object with the LONEOS telescope in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Recognizing from its motion that it was close to the Earth, he alerted the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. After that he and other scientists were able to work together to identify the object as Hermes, which will again pass Earth Nov. 4 -- by a comfortable margin of 4.2 million miles.
Charles Mims
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