NASA稱一顆小行星將近距離掠過地球

　　8月3日CNN聽力：NASA稱一顆小行星快要間隔擦過地球

　　Asteroids.

　　Our solar system is littered with them, and according to NASA, a big one is coming close to earth.

　　But no need to fret.

　　There is no chance that this space rock will collide with our planet.

　　By close, we mean more than 700,000 miles from Earth.

　　Or about three times a distance from here to the Moon.

　　We should be getting some great radar images of this asteroid.

　　So, radar will be the key to study the asteroid's surface, to get an idea for how it's shaped, whether it has rocks and that kind of stuff on it, that will be really exciting.

　　The asteroid is called 2004 BL86.

　　And scientists estimate it to be about a third of a mile in size.

　　While asteroids pass by the Earth all the time, this is the largest one to come this close to Earth until 2027.

　　So, scientists are jumping at the opportunity to observe and study it.

　　Now, well, there is no imminent asteroid threat that we know of.

　　That isn't stopping scientists from tracking and cataloguing these asteroids and developing planetary defense strategies.

　　So, overtime we are going to find more and more of these asteroids and we slowly eliminate all of the, you know, large ones from possibility of hitting the Earth in the next hundred years or so.

　　This particular one, we have to keep an eye on.

　　Here in a 1000 years, there could be an increasing change of this asteroid getting the Earth.

　　So, we want to keep an eye on it, we keep tracking it and just-make sure we've checked, you know, in the long term that there is not any possibility of even this one hitting the Earth.

　　But scientists aren't the only ones who will be tracking this thing.

　　All you need to see it, a good set of binoculars or telescope and a dark clear sky.

　　Before we go, I have a whale of a tale to tell you.

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