By now you may have heard about the asteroid named Apophis, which is due to come very close to the Earth in 2029 and might be on a collision course in 2036. Well. there's a new threat on the astronomical scene. Asteroid 2013 135 is believed to have come within 4.2 million miles of the Earth on September 16th 2013.
Asteroid 2013 135 was discovered by scientist working in the Ukraine. After a weeks worth of observation, it's trajectory has been predicted to bring it back to the vicinity of the Earth in 2032. The scientists who made their discovery on October 8th 2013, after a week of observations, assert that though the asteroid's orbit is uncertain, they believe that there is no chance that it will come in contact with the Earth in the next 19 years.
The story of the near miss got a lot of attention in the media, but NASA, which tracks near Earth objects, was quick to issue a statement siting that this asteroid had a one in 63,000 chance of actually hitting the Earth. NASA feels that as the asteroid becomes more easily observable in the coming months, the Minor Planet Center in Massachusetts will be able to improve on the initial orbit calculations.
It appears that we have some time before Asteroid 2013 135 returns, and though the sky may fall one day, it doesn't appear that that's going to happen anytime soon.
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