Asteroid to barely miss earth?
HOLD ON to your hats: an asteroid will zoom within spitting distance of earth next week, in what Nasa said on Thursday is the closest flyby ever predicted for an object this large.
The 2012 DA 14, discovered by chance by astronomers after passing nearby in February 2012, will be just around 17,200 miles (27,700 kilometres) above earth’s surface when it speeds by, the US Space Agency said.
That’s outside the earth’s atmosphere, but closer than the orbit of most weather and communications satellites.
However, despite the close shave, Nasa said there was nothing to fear.
“This asteroid’s orbit is so well known that we can say with confidence that even considering it’s orbital uncertainties, it can pass no closer than 17,100 miles from the earth’s surface. So no earth impact is possible,” said Donald Yeomans of Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“At the same time, it will pass 5,000 miles inside the ring” of satellites, Yeomans told reporters, saying the asteroid’s path puts it right in the “sweet spot” to avoid having any damaging impact. The asteroid is predicted to come closest to earth on February 15, at around 1924 GMT, plus or minus a minute or two, and will pass over the Indian Ocean off Sumatra.
It will be visible, with a little help from a telescope, in eastern Europe, Australia and Asia, astronomers said.
“What you would see through a small telescope would be something like a star.”
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