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Posted on 04/15/2003 2:06:02 PM PDT by green team 1999
ODD ASTEROID:
On April 7th, astronomers discovered a near-Earth asteroid following a curious path around the Sun. The orbit of 2003 GQ22 is nestled almost entirely inside Earth's own.
"2003 GQ22 is nearly a member of the elusive inner-Earth object group, for which there is thought to be several members, but only one discovered to date (2003 CP20)," says Donald Yeomans, the manager of JPL's Near Earth Object Program.
Inner-Earth asteroids start out like most space rocks--orbiting the Sun in the asteroid belt beyond Mars.
But over the course of time, perhaps hundreds of millions of years or longer, they are nudged inward by gravitational tugs from Jupiter, Mars and Earth itself.
On 15 Apr 2003 there were 505 known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids
for information and discusion only,not for profit etc,etc.
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