Two Asteroids Passed Close to Earth Wednesday

By Nancy Atkinson - April 06, 2011 10:11 PM UTC | Planetary Science

Earth got a double dose of close asteroid flybys on Wednesday, April 6, 2011. Two newly discovered small asteroids both passed within the distance of the Moon. 2011 GW9 (10 meters wide) came within half the distance to the Moon, about 192,000 km 12:53 a.m. EDT and 2011 GP28 (6 meters wide) came within 77,000 km (.2 LD) at 3:36 p.m. EDT. Spaceweather.com said the size of these asteroids are two to three times smaller than the Tunguska impactor of 1908, and assured there was no danger of a collision with Earth.

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com