Astronomers are tracking a 250-meter-wide asteroid called Apophis which will come within 30,000 km of earth in 2029. However, it's too soon to tell if that near-miss will pull the asteroid into a collision course with the earth 7 years later. "Lu says the best way to deflect an asteroid is with a 'gravity tractor' -- a spacecraft displacing about 1 metric ton that simply hovers near an asteroid and gently tweaks its orbit."

This entry was published on February 19, 2007 at 02:36 pm.

Tags for this entry:  astronomy 

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