Long lost hazardous Hermes asteroid, rediscovered

Another giant, potentially Earth-threatening rock has been re-discovered after scientists had "lost" it from their observations over the last 50 years, though in their credit they had it on their asteroid-hunter wish list.

I'm glad they found it. And I'm glad it missed us again.

~ Ash Harman

A large and potentially hazardous asteroid that went missing for almost 66 years ago was re-discovered by astronomers on Wednesday morning. The good news is that its next fly-by, on 4 November, will miss the Earth by a relatively comfortable seven million kilometres.

Asteroid 1937 UB, later dubbed Hermes, set a record for closest recorded approach to the Earth on 30 October 1937. The record lasted for 50 years. Hermes is one to two kilometres in diameter and would cause global devastation if it hit the planet.

So, given its near approach, observers in 1937 were extremely keen to characterise its orbit and assess whether future passes would target the Earth. But with only four days of observations, Hermes was lost soon after it passed by.

Read more @ New Scientist.