“Potentially Hazardous” ‘2010 ST3′ Asteroid To Pass Earth Next Month

September 29th, 2010 - 12:45 am ICT by Angela Kaye Mason  

Sep 28 (THAINDIAN NEWS) An asteroid which is being called potentially hazardous was discovered less than one month before it is due to pass by the earth at what is considered to be “close range”. The 2010 ST3 Asteroid is said to be 150 meters across and will pass within 4 million miles of the Earth in October.

The asteroid was found using the new Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System, or Pan-STARRS. The PS1 telescope took the images on September 16. At the time it was 20 million miles away.

It is the first “potentially hazardous object” which has been discovered by Pan-STARRS, using the new telescope to watch for dangerous asteroids which might pose a danger to Earth.

“Although this particular object won’t hit Earth in the immediate future, its discovery shows that Pan-STARRS is now the most sensitive system dedicated to discovering potentially dangerous asteroids,” Robert Jedicke of the PS1 Scientific Consortium stated, according to The Daily Mail.

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