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2 Small Asteroids Give Earth A Close Shave
Wednesday, March 28, 2012 0:16
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This montage of images from several different observations and missions shows asteroids and comets visited by spacecraft from Earth. Courtesy of Ted Stryk/Emily Lakdawalla CREDIT: |
Two tiny asteroids zipped close by Earth today (March 26), passing between our planet and the orbit of the moon, but posed no threat of impacting our world, NASA scientists say.
The two space rocks flew by Earth in rapid fire; one zoomed by early in the day while the second buzzed the planet at 1:09 p.m. EDT (1709 GMT), according to astronomers with NASA's Asteroid Watch program.
"Both are very small (under 10 meters) and pose no risk," the scientists wrote in a Twitter update.
The first object, called asteroid 2012 FP35, came within 96,000 miles (154,000 km) of the Earth when it passed by earlier today, the scientists wrote. Asteroid 2012 FP35 is just under 30 feet (9 meters) wide, making it about the size of a tour bus.
