House-size asteroid passes close by Earth
March 18th, 2011 - 12:10 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Mar 18 (ANI): An asteroid the size of a house passed close by Earth Wednesday, flying within the orbit of the moon just one day after astronomers spotted the space rock in the sky, according to NASA.
The small asteroid 2011 EB74 was about 47 feet across and posed no threat of hitting Earth, since it was too small to survive the trip through the planet’s atmosphere, reports Fox News.
Instead, the asteroid passed the planet at a comfortable distance of about 203,000 miles when it made its closest approach at 5:49 p.m. EDT, said NASA officials.
The astronomers discovered asteroid 2011 EB74 Tuesday as part of the ongoing Catalina Sky Survey, a project based at the University of Arizona to seek out previously unknown near-Earth objects like asteroids and comets.
“At 14 meters in size, 2011 EB74 is NOT considered a potentially hazardous asteroid. Rocks this size would burn up in our atmosphere,” Asteroid Watch officials wrote in a Twitter update.
The asteroid flyby is the latest space rock to fly near Earth this year. (ANI)
- Newly discovered asteroid to pass by earth today - Apr 08, 2010
- Asteroid 2005 yu55 to pass close to Earth today - Nov 08, 2011
- NASA's Swift satellite, Hubble Telescope probe asteroid collision debris - Apr 29, 2011
- Huge asteroid to fly close to earth on November - May 03, 2011
- Huge asteroid to fly close to earth on November 8th, 2011 - Apr 09, 2011
- Car-size asteroid to pass close by Earth Wednesday - Feb 09, 2011
- Pictures of '2005 YU55' asteroid released by NASA - Nov 10, 2011
- Big space rock flies close to Earth, no harm done - Nov 09, 2011
- New asteroid could hit earth in 2040 - Feb 29, 2012
- Asteroid with potential power of 15 atomic bombs to pass moon's orbit tonight - Apr 15, 2011
- Asteroid may yield clues about Earth's formation - Oct 31, 2011
- Two asteroids to pass closely by Earth today - Sep 08, 2010
- NASA'S NEOWISE finds previously unknown 20 comets, 33,000 asteroids - Feb 02, 2011
- 20ft wide asteroid to pass within 28,000 miles of Earth today - Oct 12, 2010
- NASA finds fewer asteroids near earth - Sep 30, 2011
Tags: asteroid flyby, asteroids, atmosphere, catalina sky survey, comets, earth objects, fly, fox news, hitting earth, moon, nasa, nasa officials, orbit, rock in the sky, rocks, space rock, twitter, university of arizona