On August 26, 2000, NASA's
Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking system discovered
2000 QW7, a fast-moving 0.5 km asteroid that will
pass only 0.032 Astronomical Units from Earth on
Sept. 1-2. That's approximately 12.4 times the
separation between the Earth and Moon. Although
the asteroid will be very close, our planet is in
no danger of a collision.
Amateur astronomers with 8 inch or larger telescopes
can observe the asteroid, which will reach a peak
brightness of about 12.7 magnitudes on Aug. 30th.

Space Weather

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), August 29, 2000