(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-01-28 15:59

Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., have obtained the first images of asteroid 2007 TU24 using high-resolution radar data, media reported Monday.

An image of Mercury is seen as taken by NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft at a distance of approximately 17,000 miles (27,359 km) after the spacecraft's closest approach to the planet January 15, 2008. [Agencies]

The data indicate the asteroid is somewhat asymmetrical in shape, with a diameter roughly 250 meters in size.

Asteroid 2007 TU24 will pass within 1.4 lunar distances, or 538,000 kilometers, of Earth on Jan. 29 at 12:33 a.m. Pacific time (3:33 am Eastern time).

"With these first radar observations finished, we can guarantee that 1.4-lunar-distance approach is the closest until at least the end of the next century," said Steve Ostro, JPL astronomer and principal investigator for the project. "It is also the asteroid's closest Earth approach for more than 2,000 years."

Scientists at NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at JPL have determined that there is no possibility of an impact with Earth in the foreseeable future.

Asteroid 2007 TU24 was discovered by the NASA-sponsored Catalina Sky Survey on Oct. 11, 2007.

The first radar detection of the asteroid was acquired on Jan. 23 using the Goldstone 70-meter antenna.