英闻天下——259 NASA Says Asteroid Will Get Closer to Earth

 　　NASA has announced that an Asteroid¹ will pass closer to Earth than the TV satellites that surround the planet.

 

　　NASA says that the celestial² visitor has no chance of impacting the Earth and is known as 2012 DA14.

 

　　A group of amatuer astronomers³ discovered the asteroid in Spain last year.

 

　　NASA astronomor Donald Yeomans says there's nothing to worry about:

 

　　"We understand its orbit extremely well and we can say with great confidence that there is no chance of hitting the Earth and the chances of hitting the satellite are negligible."

 

　　2012 DA14 is about the size of an Olympic swimming pool and will come as close as 17 thousand miles from Earth.

 

　　Television, weather and communications satellites fly about 500 miles further away.

 

　　In 1908 a comet or asteroid exploded over Siberia levelling over 80 million trees over 2,000 square kilometres.

1 asteroid   

n.小行星；海盘车(动物)

参考例句：

• Astronomers have yet to witness an asteroid impact with another planet.天文学家还没有目击过小行星撞击其它行星。
• It's very unlikely that an asteroid will crash into Earth but the danger exists.小行星撞地球的可能性很小，但这样的危险还是存在的。

2 celestial   

adj.天体的；天上的

参考例句：

• The rosy light yet beamed like a celestial dawn.玫瑰色的红光依然象天上的朝霞一样绚丽。
• Gravity governs the motions of celestial bodies.万有引力控制着天体的运动。

3 astronomers   

n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Astronomers can accurately foretell the date,time,and length of future eclipses. 天文学家能精确地预告未来日食月食的日期、时刻和时长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings. 天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。 来自《简明英汉词典》