An asteroid the size of a bus safely fly preceding Earth yesterday morn , ahead of a bombastic home - sized asteroid that will scan our planet next week .
The first was called2017 SX17 , measuring about 8 meters ( 26 feet ) wide . It pass within 87,000 kilometer ( 54,000 miles ) of our planet at 6.20am EDT ( 10.20am GMT ) yesterday , October 2 , about one - third the space of the Moon .
While it fall closely , the asteroid posed no threat to Earth . NASA tracks asteroid of this size of it and 2017 SX17 had no chance of pip us on its 476 - mean solar day field around the Sun .
However , it was only spotted on September 24 , 2017 . That ’s fairly late , and serve as agentle reminderthat we need to get unspoiled at tracking asteroids . M of near - Earth objects ( NEOs ) like this and smaller stay undetected .
On October 12 , we ’ll have an encounter with an even bigger asteroid . Called2012 TC4 , it was unwrap back in 2012 and is thought to be up to 39 to 88 feet ( 12 to 27 metre ) across in size .
It will pass by nearer , about 43,500 kilometers ( 27,000 Swedish mile ) from our major planet , or one - sixth the space of the Moon . Again , it ’s unbelievable to hit us , but reminds us of the dangers asteroid could pose . One this sizing was responsible for the explosion over Chelyabinsk in Russia in 2013 that bruise hundred .
“ We hump the orbit of 2012 TC4 well enough to be sure that it wo n’t slay Earth , ” enunciate Paul Chodas , manager of the Center for Near - Earth Object Studies ( CNEOS ) , at NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory , Pasadena , California , in astatement .
Astronomers were actually using this asteroid to conduct an experimentation ontracking asteroid . While we knew it would n’t hit Earth , the precise flyby and size of 2012 TC4 were strange . So , when it started approach Earth in the summer , scientist set out searching for it and track it , to get better constraint on its properties .
A fewother asteroidshave had closemouthed shaving with Earth this yr , but 2012 TC4 is the unaired . It will aviate past our planetquite a few more timesover the next 100 years , but it only has a 0.013 percent fortune of hitting us in that time . So we ’re middling safe for now .
