[FPSPACE] Yet another little terrorist from outer space

[Jens Kieffer-Olsen]

 It's a nasty piece of work, is 2009 HC82.

 Discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona
 less than a fortnight ago on the morning of 29 April,
 2009 HC82 - inclined 155° to the plane of the Earth's
 orbit - is only the 20th asteroid known in a retrograde
 orbit. None of the others come close to the Earth.

 In fact, the 2-3 kilometre-wide asteroid ventures
 so perilously close to the Earth's orbit that it's
 labelled a PHA ( Potentially Hazardous Asteroid )
 by the MPC ( Minor Planet Center).

 According to the MPC's Brian Marsden the size and
 shape of the new asteroid's orbit "is very like
 Encke's comet except for inclination," :

 
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17073-nearby-asteroid-found-orbiting-s
un-backwards.html

--
Jens Kieffer-Olsen
Slagelse, Denmark