[MIham] Small Asteroid Buzzes Earth

[Frank]

Space Weather News for March 2, 2009
http://spaceweather.com

ASTEROID FLYBY: There's no danger of a collision, but newly-discovered 
asteroid 2009 DD45 will come close enough today when it flies by our planet 
72,000 km (0.00048 AU) away.  That's only twice the height of a 
geostationary communications satellite.  The asteroid measures 30 to 40 
meters across, similar in size to the Tunguska impactor of 1908.  Closest 
approach occurs at approximately 1340 UT (5:40 am PST) on March 2nd. 
Experienced amateur astronomers may be able to photograph the space rock 
shining like an 11th magnitude star as it races through the constellations 
Hydra and Virgo.  The timing favors observers in Hawaii, Australia, New 
Zealand, Japan and east Asia. Visit http://spaceweather.com for updates and 
ephemerides.