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This asteroid sweeps closer than our moon today

Asteroid 2018 DU on February 25, 2018, via Virtual Telescope Project (Italy) and Tenagra Observatories (Arizona, USA).

Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope Project in Rome wrote:

On February 25, the near-Earth asteroid 2018 DU will make a very close encounter with the Earth, safely coming closer than the moon. We captured it to share it with you.

The telescope tracked the apparent motion of the asteroid. This is why stars leave long trails, while the asteroid looks like a sharp dot of light in the center of the image. At the imaging time, asteroid 2018 DU was at about 195,000 miles (315,000 km) from the Earth, closer than our moon, and it was approaching us. This ~10-meter-large asteroid will reach its minimum distance ~175,000 miles (284,000 km) from us on February 25, 2018, at 18:22 UTC [12:22 p.m. CST; translate UTC to your time].

Thank you, Gianluca!

Check out the Virtual Telescope Project

Bottom line: Asteroid 2018 DU closer than our moon on February 25.

Posted 
February 25, 2018
 in 
Space

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