A mile wide asteroid is crossing Earth's orbit today. Vice President for Astronomy and the Physical Sciences at Houston Museum of Natural Science Astronomer Dr. Carolyn Sumners explains. "There are many asteroids that cross the path of the earth and the goal is for Earth not to be there when they cross by. This asteroid does cross our orbit but we never get close to it.The asteroid, famously known as 52768 has a shape that looks like a nose sticking out of a person's face mask. She says it's shaped like a face wearing an N-95 mask In fact, she says it looks like it's ready to quarantine! You can google the asteroid and decide if you think it looks like t's wearing a mask as well."
It's too far away for you to see it from your back yard tonight, though. Dr. Sumners says that only really big telescopes can see it but astronomers love to see asteroids as they cross earth's orbit. "Watching an asteroid go by is such a fun sport! And it's socially distanced away from us so you're allowed to do it these days."
Although the Houston Museum of Natural Science is closed now, Dr. Sumners is busy working on this summer's exhibit. "We are going to have an exhibit with a big BIG Mars...23 feet wide!" The Mars exhibit will include a projection of what it would take to live on the planet.
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