Steven Kirby did much more than grade papers this week. While he was taking a few continuing education classes at the Math-Science Symposium at Hardin-Simmons University, he stumbled upon a once in a lifetime discovery. "It's a fairly small asteroid, it's only 2/10's of a mile across," Kirby said. "It would cause some devastation."
Kirby says that tiny blog he saw skipping across the computer screen, is 5 million miles away. That's much closer than you may think.
"That's not very far in space, that's practically in your neighborhood, like just down the block," Kirby said.
Kirby believes that it may pose some danger to us here on Earth.
"It's supposed to pass 10 times within the next 100 years, that's 10 potential hits," Kirby said.
Along with the satisfaction of knowing he made an incredible discovery, he may get to make his mark on a space map, as well.
"I will probably get to name it, or possibly name it, in about six years," Kirby said. "So I have to wait six years, and then we'll see."
