After all the excitement last week Friday when Earth had an
encounter with two space rocks, one lies in countless fragments
in the frozen Ural Mountains in Russia while the other is
heading intact out into interplanetary space. (Related pictures:
“Meteorite Hits Russia.”) NASA unveiled a new 72 frame movie
using the 230 foot (70 meters) Deep Space Network antenna at
Goldstone, California of the building size asteroid DA14 as it
swung by Earth on Feb.15 and 16. This now represents our first
imagery of what this cosmic interloper actually looks like. The
grainy images were taken only hours after its record-setting
approach, zipping by at only 17,200 miles (27,000 km) from
Earth’s surface – passing even closer than orbiting
communication satellites. (Related: “Watch Asteroid Buzz
Earth.”) The short video spans 8 hours and shows a 130 foot (40
meter) long object as it speeds away, increasing its distance
from Earth from 74,000 miles (120,000 km) to 195,000 miles
(314,000 km). The new size is 5 meters shorter than