NASA spots near-Earth asteroid

PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 25 (UPI) -- NASA says its wide-field infrared survey explorer, called WISE, has spotted its first never-before-seen near-Earth asteroid.

Officials said the object is the first of hundreds WISE is expected to find during its mission to map the whole sky in infrared light.

The asteroid, discovered Jan. 12 and named 2010 AB78, is about 0.6 miles in diameter and located approximately 98 million miles from Earth. The spacecraft's discovery was confirmed with the University of Hawaii's 2.2-meter (88-inch) visible-light telescope.

"The asteroid … circles the sun in an elliptical orbit tilted to the plane of our solar system," NASA said. "The object comes as close to the sun as Earth, but because of its tilted orbit, it is not thought to pass near our planet. This asteroid does not pose any foreseeable impact threat to Earth, but scientists will continue to monitor it."

WISE began its all-sky survey Jan. 14 and NASA said it expects the space telescope to find about 100,000 previously undiscovered asteroids in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, as well as millions of new stars and galaxies.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., manages the WISE mission.