The Nation - News from May 31, 1989
An asteroid measuring nearly two miles in diameter will pass Saturday within 8 million miles of Earth, astronomers predict, weeks after a cosmic close call with another asteroid 450,000 miles away March 23. The asteroid that will blaze past Earth on Saturday may be visible at first as a faint star in the constellation Virgo with a telescope, Billy Cooke, a University of Florida astronomer in Gainesville, said. It measures one to two miles in diameter and travels at a speed of 20 miles per second. Astronomers determine an asteroid’s chances of hitting Earth by observing its pattern of orbit. After watching this asteroid for some time, “We feel completely safe with this one,” Cooke said.
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