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On February 22nd, a small asteroid named 2006 DQ14 flew past Earth at a distance of 1.2 million miles. But was it really an asteroid? 2006 DQ14 follows an orbit around the sun strikingly similar to Earth's. This raises the possibility that the "asteroid" is actually space junk from our own planet. 2006 DQ14 was last near Earth in 1977-1979. Space missions launched in that time frame would be candidates to explain this curious object.
Note to observers: 2006 DQ14 is currently shining at 19th magnitude in the constellation Leo. Advanced amateur astronomers should be able to photograph and track it.
*My 'scope can't achieve 19th magnitude viewing.
From Spaceweather.com
--Cindy
We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...
--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)
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offtopic: that ephemeris generator, funky!
I know, I know: pretty standard stuff, but still... Amazing what one can request sitting behind a desk these days...
On Topic: :? When the orbit is 'strikingly' similar to Earth's, how can it then keep zooming by? Esp. in such small timeframes? How 'strikingly' similar are we talking here? :?
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