NASA Discovers Potentially Hazardous Asteroid Has A Moonlet During Close Encounter
On June 27 , asteroid 2011 UL21 made a relativelyclose encounterwith Earth , flying by our satellite at a space of 6.6 million kilometers ( 4.1 million miles ) , or roughly 17 times the average distance from the Earth to the Moon . While not close enough to worry about , the encounter gave astronomers an opportunity to get a closer tone at the object . Doing so can help us learn more about such asteroids , as well as minute down their eye socket , allowing us to know whether they will gravel risks to the planet further in the future ....