Radar Images: Mile-Wide Asteroid in Deep Space

by Tariq Malik, SPACE.com Managing Editor

2012 November 6 Time: 11:06 AM

This composite image of asteroid 2007 PA8 was obtained using data taken by NASA's 230-foot-wide (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif. The composite incorporates images generated from data collected at Goldstone on Oct. 28, 29, and 30, 2012. CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Gemini View full size image

A team of NASA scientists has captured amazing radar images of a huge, mile-wide asteroid as it drifted silently millions of miles from Earth — its closest approach to our planet for the next 200 years.

Astronomers with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., used the agency's Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone, Calif. to capture three new radar views of asteroid 2007 PA8 between Oct. 28 and 30. By the end of the cosmic photo session, the asteroid was about 5.6 million miles (9 million kilometers) from Earth.

As of Monday (Nov. 5), the asteroidwas about 4 million miles (6.5 million km) from our planet. That is about 17 times the distance between the Earth and moon.

More - Link >>> http://www.space.com/18359-nasa-asteroid-radar-photos-2007-pa8.html

Source: Space.com .

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