Asteroid 2012 DA14 approaches Earth
February 16, 2013  01:14

CNN: It's not going to crash here, but it's still exciting! An asteroid made its closest pass by Earth at around 2:24 p.m. ET, flying about 17,200 miles above Earth's surface. It's estimated to be about 150 feet (45 meters) across with an estimated mass of 130,000 metric tons. The flyby was the closest ever predicted for an object this large, according to NASA. 

 

The asteroid, called 2012 DA14, flew between Earth and the satellites that ring the planet 22,200 miles up. Scientists think there may be 500,000 asteroids the size of 2012 DA14, but fewer than 1% have been located. NASA says the asteroid is entirely unrelated to the meteor that exploded over Russia Friday.

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