Astronomical telescopes detect asteroids near Earth

Last week NASA scientists detected two asteroids heading towards Earth while carrying out a routine inspection of the sky using their astronomical telescopes.

During this routine scan of the sky carried out by the Catalina Sky Survey in Tucson, Arizona, the scientists observed through telescopes how the asteroids passed the moon and into the Earth’s orbit narrowing missing our planet.

Amateur star gazers were able to detect these objects using their everyday telescopes but experts claim that neither of these objects was ever going to pose a big risk to us.

The first asteroid was estimated to be around twenty metres in width, while the second was expected to be around six or seven meters in diameter.

Experts now predict that over the next few years a number of similar sized objects may well travel towards our planet but would burn up when entering our atmosphere.

It has also been revealed that although it is quite common to see single asteroids moving towards Earth and its atmosphere, experts around the world are quick to admit that seeing two objects in such close concession as what happened last week is quite rare.

Lindley Johnson, program executive of the Near-Earth Object program in Washington said: “This is the first time we’ve seen two combined within a 24-hour period but that is probably because we don’t know everything that is out there.”

In recent weeks both amateur and professional astronomers have also predicted asteroid activity surrounding Jupiter’s atmosphere. These collisions can be seen using a telescope from Earth and appear like fire balls. According to experts the planet is probably hit by small asteroids every couple of weeks, whereas the Earth is only ever hit every ten years or so by small objects of around six to ten metres in diameter.

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