NASA NEO Graphic showing the path of 2010 TD54
With additional observations the path of today's (Oct 12th) close flyby of mini-asteroid 2010 TD54 was refined. Singapore was the area where closest approach took place at 6:50 a.m. EDT. The space rock passed at a distance of 27, 960 miles above the surface of our planet.
2010 TD54 was discovered on October 9th at 3:55 a.m. EDT) during a routine sky patrol by a telescope of the NASA-sponsored Catalina Sky Survey north of Tucson, Arizona. NASA has several telescopes dedicated to finding Nearth Earth Objects (NEO's) that could pose a threat to our planet.
Although this space rock did not pose a threat to our planet, it still carried quite a punch. If it had entered our atmosphere it would have probably disintegrated into pieces that might have survived to become meteorites. It also could have exploded high in the atmosphere with the force of a small nuclear detonation or the equivalent of tens of thousands of tons of TNT.
Read More About It: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-332
Sky Guy in VA
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