30.09 Russian Scientists Report Asteroid Near-Miss
MOSCOW, September 30 (RIA Novosti) A 15-meter (approximately 50 feet) asteroid, similar to the one that exploded above Russia in February, was detected hours before it narrowly missed the Earth over the weekend, Russian scientists said.
Vladimir Lipunov of the Moscow State University and the Sternberg Astronomical Institute said on Sunday a network of telescopes operated by his team recorded a celestial body approaching the planet.
"[The asteroid] was discovered on Friday night by our station near Lake Baikal and nine hours later it flew within 11,300 kilometers of the Earth surface, below the orbit of geostationary satellites. It was about 15 meters in size, he said.
The scientists originally thought that it could be a man-made object, such as a spent rocket booster, but rejected the idea when they couldnt find a match in the space junk catalogue.
