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Hanging Out and Talking Asteroids at the White House

May 31, 2013 at 6:17 PM ET by Phil Larson
Summary: 
Today, the White House hosted a "We The Geeks" Google+ Hangout series to discuss asteroid 1998 QE2, that safely flew by the Earth and Moon.

Now that asteroid 1998 QE2 has safely flown by the Earth and Moon, we won’t have another close visit from this particular space rock for about 200 years.

We the Geeks Asteroid Google Hangout

Credit: NASA

As part of the White House’s ongoing series of “We The Geeks” Google+ Hangouts (focused on highlighting science, technology, and innovation topics), we gathered some leaders in space exploration together for a pregame show to the near-miss of asteroid 1998 QE2.

These experts included:

More information about asteroids and near-Earth objects is available at: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/, http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch and via Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/asteroidwatch.

Ways to Get Involved

There’s a competition for students and young professionals to share their most innovative ideas for a mission to an asteroid with the world's leading space experts. Check it out at: www.spacegeneration.org/maa.

Have ideas for the next “We the Geeks”? Use the hashtag #WeTheGeeks on Twitter and on Google+ and let us know! Also, you can sign up to receive updates about future “We the Geeks” hangouts at Whitehouse.gov/We-the-Geeks.