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Russian Meteor update

13 March 2013
Astronomy

At http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/09/17253655-earth-gets-a-rush-o… … the Russian meteor has been followed by a succession of near misses, it would seem, and not just those that broke in mainstream media. An asteroid as big as a city block passed by last saturday, 600,000 miles away but fairly close on a cosmic rock average – and again, nobody knew it was out there. The Russian meteor is now said to have been the size of a bus, downgraded from the size of a large building – so it has shrunk (in estimation). Two other small asteroids came close to Earth last weekend, one at 93,000 miles away and another at 290,000 miles away. Once again they were only discovered shortly before their passage and no doubt reflecting the heavy eyeballing going on since the Russian meteor exploded.

Meanwhile, the BBC Horizon programme has succession of documentaries now showing, all about asteroids. Last Tuesday night it was the Asteroid Belt that was the subject and the discovery of asteroids with tails.

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