Space rock enters Earth's gravitational field

Indore, June 15 (UNI) An irregularly-shaped space rock nearly 4 m in length and 1.5 to 2.3 m across has come into Earth's proximity, claims an amateur astronomer.

''The rock, with the scientific name 6RIODB9, suddenly entered our planet's gravitational field on June 12 and is slowly making revolutions of Earth. On June 17, it will be at a distance of nearly 2,03,000 km from our planet. A similar 'rock' was observed in September 2006 by The University of Arizona's Catalina Sky Survey,'' said Dr Ram S Shrivastava.

A group of scientists were considering that 'rock' as a spacecraft fragment of NASA's Apollo programme undertaken in the sixties.

''The present rock can be termed an asteroid of unknown nature,'' said Dr Shrivastava.

Sunlight reflecting off its surface proved that it is a solid mass of several tonnes and had there been strong solar activity at this juncture then the rock's path might have changed and it might have come still closer to Earth thereby endangering geostationary satellites.

''Most scientists are considering that the rock is nothing but a tiny part of the Moon ejected after a major asteroid impact,'' the astronomer added.

UNI