Number 362 (Story #3), March 12, 1998 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein WATER ON MOON, ASTEROID NEAR EARTH. The Lunar Prospector spacecraft has detected the presence of water ice, at a level of about 1%, in the soil at the Moon's two poles. Perhaps brought to the Moon by passing comets, the water ice lies in valleys away from the Sun's rays. Its density was inferred from the number of neutrons flung up when cosmic rays strike the lunar surface (NASA press conference, 5 March). Meanwhile, several observers have spotted an asteroid, named 1997 XF11, whose orbit might bring it to within 30,000 miles of our planet in the year 2028. Its diameter may be as big as one mile, making it one of the largest asteroids expected to have passed within a distance equal to the moon's orbit. (IAU press release, 11 March.)