Future Encounters
In July 2003, the asteroid passed within 0.012 AU of Mars. The exact fate of 2007 WD5 following the January 2008 Mars encounter is unknown although it is most likely that it safely passed the planet at a distance of 6.5 Mars radii. Mars, unlike Jupiter, is not big enough to eject the asteroid from the Solar System, however, the gravitation effect from the encounter on the asteroid's trajectory is uncertain and the asteroid is currently considered 'lost'. Assuming 2007 WD5 passed Mars safely, its low inclination to the ecliptic of only 2.3 degrees and high eccentricity of 0.6 could cause it to swing close to Mars or Earth for years or decades into the future.
Read more about this topic: 2007 WD5
Famous quotes containing the words future and/or encounters:
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