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IPFS News Link • Precious Metals

A space rock worth $5.4 trillion is flying by Earth this weekend -- here's how to watch

• http://www.businessinsider.com, JESSICA ORWIG

Underneath the surface of some asteroids is a treasure trove of a type of mineral, called platinum, that is rare on Earth but extremely lucrative — 1,000 cubic centimeters of platinum is worth close to $1 million. And asteroids have a lot more than that in addition to other rare and precious materials. 

One of these platinum-loaded asteroids will be flying by Earth on Sunday, July 19.

And this particular one, called asteroid 2011 UW-158, is thought to harbor anyhwere from $300 billion to $5.4 trillion worth of platinum and other precious metals and materials. Astronomers can estimate this by studying the object's size as well as its general composition with instruments called spectrometers that measure the intesntiy of light from an object.


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