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Post by Wes on Jan 13, 2010 9:49:43 GMT 10
' Mystery object' 2010 AL30 to pass within 130,000km of Earth.
ASTRONOMERS will tonight get their best look at a "mystery object" orbiting the Earth just a third of the distance out to the moon. Named 2010 AL30, the object will pass within 130,000km of the Earth at 12.48pm GMT (10.48pm AEDT). It is between 10-15m long, meaning there is no chance it could ever have an impact on the planet, but it is certainly causing plenty of discussion in scientific circles. Experts are divided over whether the object is man-made or a small asteroid. Italian scientists Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero told Ria Novosti it had an orbital period of almost exactly one year and might be a spent rocket booster. But Alan Harris at the US Space Science Institute said the object had a "perfectly ordinary Earth-crossing orbit". "Unlikely to be artificial, its orbit doesn't resemble any useful spacecraft trajectory, and its encounter velocity with Earth is not unusually low," he posted to The Minor Planet Mailing List. Expert astronomers will be able to see it shining with a brightness of a 14th-magnitude star similar to that of Pluto. It will appear moving through the constellations of Orion, Taurus and Pisces, according to NASA's Solar System Dynamics website. www.news.com.au/weird-true-freaky/mystery-object-2010-al30-to-pass-within-130000km-of-earth/story-e6frflri-1225818684999?from=news+newsletter_rss
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Post by brillbilly on Jan 13, 2010 9:58:15 GMT 10
as iv said befor wez we are a sitting target
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Post by dboyseeker on Jan 13, 2010 10:46:28 GMT 10
jeez thats close eh... With that sort of orbital period though theres a bloody good chance its man made although it would be way cool if it was alien in origin
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Post by brillbilly on Jan 13, 2010 11:02:22 GMT 10
im still not scared,lol if it happens, if we are in the firing line then lets just hope its quick
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Post by dboyseeker on Jan 13, 2010 21:53:28 GMT 10
seems its not ours.... A small (10 meter wide) asteroid will pass by the Earth Wednesday, at 12:47 UT. This tiny rock, called 2010 AL30
still a close pass tho eh
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Post by concrete on Jan 13, 2010 22:00:28 GMT 10
I think Mike Rivero over at WRH may have the most logical explanation.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2010 22:51:10 GMT 10
Yeah it proberbly is a rocket booster of some sort, but what are the chances of something like that falling, by chance, into a perfect 1 year orbit like that. Not been pulled in by the earths or the suns gravity.
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