Small asteroid to whip past Earth on June 27, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011 - 10:30
in Astronomy & Space
Near-Earth asteroid 2011 MD will pass only 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles) above Earth's surface on Monday, June 27 at about 9:30 EDT. The asteroid was discovered by the LINEAR near-Earth object discovery team observing from Socorro, New Mexico. This small asteroid, only 5-20 meters in diameter, is in a very Earth-like orbit about the Sun, but an orbital analysis indicates there is no chance it will actually strike Earth on Monday.