A space body weighing 130 thousand tons will fly at a record close to our planet 
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PHOTO: NASA An asteroid that will fly past Earth already in two weeks, it will be at a record close distance from ours the planet. This conclusion was reached by NASA scientists who recounted trajectory of the celestial body. The distance from the object to the Earth at the moment maximum rapprochement will be 17 thousand kilometers. Earlier in The recent history of the planet has not happened. Asteroid 2012DA14, discovered in February 2012 by astronomers of the Spanish observatory La Sagra, will approach the Earth on February 15 at 23:25 Moscow time time. It was previously believed that it will pass at a distance of 34 thousand km from the center of the Earth, or just over 27 thousand km from its surface. But NASA experts who have been constantly monitoring the asteroid, amended the calculations. The asteroid will be even closer than flying some artificial satellites of the earth. So, the height of the geostationary orbits in which communication satellites and relays are located television signals, is more than 35 thousand km above the level seas. However, scientists consider the probability of an asteroid colliding with one of the satellites is extremely low. Diameter 2012DA14 is 45 meters, weight – 130 thousand tons. In the event of its fall to Earth will be highlighted energy equivalent to the explosion of 2.4 megatons (mgt) of TNT. Scientists sure that due to rapprochement with our planet, the force of impact gravity on it will be relatively large, so calculate further trajectory of this object is not yet possible. In the end January 2013 at a distance of 14.46 million km from the Earth flew asteroid Apophis. Astronomers are alarmed by the fact that in 2029 this object will approach our planet at a distance of 36 thousand. kilometers. In the event of a collision of a 300-meter Apophis with the Earth the consequences will be more serious. According to scientists, allocated while the energy is equivalent to the explosion energy of 506 mgt of TNT.
NASA
