Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: This coming Monday, the 152 metre asteroid 2003 DZ15 will make a pass by our planet Earth. This asteroid is huge but miniscule as that compared to that big one which flew by earth last month.
Lately many asteroids are making a close shave with Earth but they are passing by a very huge distance, by many millions of miles. So according to the scientists there is nothing to be worried about. The asteroid 2003 DZ15 will be passing by earth by a distance of more than 3.5 million kilometres. When compared to its distance from earth, this is at least nine times longer distance compared to earth-moon distance, so there is no threat to Earth.
It will be interesting to see whether the telescopes will be able to keep track of this asteroid. A report says, “Closest approach of 2003 DZ15 is set for 00:37 UT July 30th, or 8:37 PM EDT the evening of Monday, July 29th. Although it will only reach about +14th magnitude (based on an absolute magnitude of +22.2), and hence be out of range to all but the very largest Earthbound backyard telescopes, it’ll be fun to watch as it slowly drifts across the starry background live on the internet”.
