I get e-newsletter from Engadget.com and today the University of Hawaii was in their e-newsletter. The Institute of Astronomy of the University of Hawaii & NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Office made the discovery of asteroid 2016 H03 that's following Earth and has been following Earth for over a century. Asteroid will continue to be near Earth for many more centuries too. This little asteroid poses no danger to Earth at all. image from https://www.engadget.com/2016/06/16/newly-discovered-asteroid-2016HO3-is-earths-cosmic-buddy/.
That's good to know, I care about my grandsons future. Sometimes I wouldn't mind a small one dropping on just my house though.
This reminds me of a joke. An astronomer said to his wife that he calculates that the earth will be hit by a huge asteroid that will end life 50 million years from now. The wife was aghast and verified by repeating fifteen. The astronomer said, no, it's 50 million years. The wife said, good Lord, I thought you said fifteen million years. I care for our grandchildren, you know. Seriously now, that news is quite ironic to me because all this time there was that asteroid escorting earth and it's only now that it is discovered. I wonder what they will discover next. I am no astronomer but I know that there is this Hubble Telescope that is roaming the universe with its regular monitoring. Why didn't it spot that asteroid before?
I don't believe that I have ever seen a realistic picture of an asteroid. I wonder if there is any way NASA could obtain a picture of it?
I am glad to know that it poses no danger to the earth, because there are some that could really damage the earth if they so were inclined to. I think we are just kind of a target here, and an asteroid hitting the earth is not very far fetched at all. I was an extra in the movie Deep Impact...about a giant asteroid hitting the earth. However, basically my vehicle was used..I don't know if I made the final cut, but my friend and his vehicle did. It was a nice little 2 day gig.
I found this link to another more in depth article with a video on it unfortunately is drawings not of asteroid. here is link: http://pakvim.net/watch/VumI2_YeKJk This article has a still photo of 2016 H03: http://www.universetoday.com/129467/earth-almost-moon/