Asteroid flyby brings space rock closer than the moon
An asteroid the size of a baseball diamond passed between the Earth and the moon's orbit this afternoon.
Flyby of 2014 DX110 took place at 4 p.m. ET
An asteroid the size of a baseball diamond passed between the Earth and the moon's orbit this afternoon.
Asteroid 2014 DX110, which is 30 metres across, made its closest approach to Earth at 4 p.m. ET today, according to NASA. At that point, it was just 350,000 kilometres from Earth, about 35,000 kilometres closer than the moon is, on average.
NASA had said the asteroid would pass "safely" and that asteroids pass that close to Earth about 20 times a year.
The asteroid flyby was streamed live by at least a couple of organizations that connect robotic telescopes to the internet:
- The Italy-based Virtual Telescope Project, captured photos and video footage of the asteroid.
- U.S.-based Slooh.
Slooh added that it will be streaming the flyby of a much larger asteroid called 2014 CU13, which is up to 260 metres in diameter, on Sunday at 10 p.m. ET.