A big rock for Valentine’s Day? Watch our VP of Astronomy Carolyn Sumners discuss the massive asteroid zooming past Earth on Feb. 15


February 12, 2013
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If you anticipated seeing stars this Valentine’s Day, you weren’t far off.

Asteroid 2012 DA14 is projected to pass “dangerously close” to earth Feb. 15 — potentially taking out some important communication satellites.

Carolyn Sumners talks Valentine's Asteroid on MyFoxHouston

Discovered last year, the asteroid is half the length of a football field, weighs 130,000 metric tons and will pass Earth at a closer distance than the Moon at some 17,000 miles per hour. But astronomers, including HMNS’ own VP of Astronomy Carolyn Sumners, have put our stammering hearts to rest — sort of:

Houston weather, traffic, news | FOX 26 | MyFoxHouston

“Asteroids this size – the one we’re talking about for next week – can destroy a city, not a planet,” Sumners told MyFoxHouston.

Luckily, NASA says there’s no chance of impact. This year, the cosmic love’s on you.

Authored By Caroline Gallay

Caroline was the Digital Media Editor at HMNS from 2012 to 2013. She was responsible for telling the Museum’s story online. You could find Caroline on the site profiling characters around the museum and making sure you knew what the what was going on around this crazy/awesome place.


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