By This oddball space rock is anything but ball-like.
Imagine this hurtling through space: Scientists have found an asteroid with dimensions similar to the Empire State Building.
This asteroid, which recently sped past Earth, has caught the attention of NASA astronomers for its bizarre long shape. The space rock — which has perhaps whizzed by to set the record straight that not all asteroids are vaguely ball-like — is more than three times as long as it is wide.
To get a sense of its scale, scientists have estimated the rock is about 1,600-by-500 feet, roughly comparable to that of the world-famous landmark that looms over 100 stories above New York.
“Of the 1,040 near-Earth objects observed by planetary radar to date, this is one of the most elongated we’ve seen,” said Lance Benner, principal scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in a statement.
This article was published by Elisha Sauers in Mashable.
You can read the full report here at: https://mashable.com/article/nasa-asteroid-passing-earth-2023