Asteroid DA14 misses Earth, observed in China

The asteroid AD14 skims past Earth harmlessly at the point as close as 27,000 kilometers from Earth Saturday morning.    

It is the closest known flyby for a rock of its size, and China is one of the best viewing locations, with binoculars and telescopes.    

The astronomers tracked AD14's trajectories in China's eastern provinces including Jiangsu and Shandong provinces.   

The asteroid turned brightest at 03:30 in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, and then flew towards southwest, passing from the constellation Leo to roughly the Plough. It darkened and flied away around 04:30. The record observed in Shandong one hour later, was mainly the same with Jiangsu.   

Many experts have been monitoring DA14's movements since its discovery by Spanish astronomers in 2012.   

Experts say the 46-meter wide asteroid will come back close to Earth in 2046 next time, but the distance will be further than this time.     

"We have been observing it for one and half hours since 03:00. It was predicted that the asteroid may darken into the shadow of Earth between 03:29 and 03:48. But it didn't, according to our observation," said Zhao Hui, Assistant Director of the Committee on Promotion, Chinese Astronomical Society.     

"The asteroid turned brightest at 03:30 this morning, when it became closest to the earth. And then, it moved towards the constellation Leo," added Zhao.    

"The distance (27,000 kilometers from Earth) is really a close distance, speaking of the whole universe. If it comes closer, it might be drawn in the Earth-centered inertial system and hit the earth," said Sun Linan, Qingdao Observatory manager, Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Science     

"If we detect any asteroid that might crash into Earth, we would send a spaceship loaded with exploder to it and explode it to change its track and prevent it from hitting Earth, nor causing any damage to us," added Sun.  


APTN