Big asteroid to zoom by earth this weekend

This image of the asteroid 2013 ET was obtained on March 4, 2013, by the Italy-based Virtual Telescope project. The asteroid is visible as a faint dot in the center of the frame. / Gianluca Masi/Virtual Telescope Project

A newly discovered asteroid the size of a football field will cruise through Earth's neighborhood this weekend, just days after another space rock made an even closer approach to our planet.

The 330-foot-wide asteroid 2013 ET will miss Earth by 600,000 miles when it zips by on Saturday. The space rock flyby will come just days after the 33-foot asteroid 2013 EC approached within 230,000 miles of us early Monday (March 4).

When asteroid 2013 ET passes Earth, it will be at a range equivalent to 2.5 times the distance between the planet and the moon, making it too faint and far away for most stargazers to spot in the night sky. But the Virtual Telescope Project in Italy, run by astrophysicist Gianluca Masi, will webcast a live telescope view of the space rock's flyby on Friday (March 8), beginning at 2 p.m. EST. You can access the free broadcast here: http://www.astrowebtv.org.

There is no danger that 2013 ET will hit Earth, researchers say, just as 2013 EC posed no threat. But their flybys are slightly unsettling nonetheless, since both asteroids were discovered a mere few days ago.

Indeed, many space rocks are hurtling undetected through Earth's neck of the cosmic woods. Astronomers estimate that the number of near-Earth asteroids tops 1 million, but just 9,700 have been discovered to date.

Undetected objects can strike Earth without warning, as the surprise meteor explosion over Russia last month illustrated. The 55-foot asteroid that caused the Feb. 15 Russian fireball detonated in the atmosphere before astronomers even knew it existed.

While many scientists stress the urgent need for expanded and improved asteroid-detection efforts, there is some good news: Humanity is unlikely to go the way of the dinosaurs anytime soon.

NASA researchers have identified and mapped the orbits of 95 percent of the 980 or so near-Earth asteroids at least 0.6 miles wide, which could threaten human civilization if they hit us. None of these behemoths are on a collision course with Earth in the foreseeable future.

For comparison, the asteroid believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago likely measured about 6 miles across, scientists say.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. This article was first published on SPACE.com.

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[DEBUNT]

The doomsday theorists believe that a asteroid colliding with earth would cause an instant end. How wrong can you be with present day research in the death of a planet. A Certain impact would probably stir up a mixture of water and surface debris that would block the sun rays to the earths surface. No sunlight would cause a gradual cooling of the earths surface to well below temperatures that no one would survive. We would probably freeze to death in a matter of hours or even days. Doomsday would surely be painful and slow.

[DEBUNT]

The asteroids we are currently experiencing seem to occurring one right after another. It is possible that these asteroids are occurring from a cycle that occurs every ten to fifteen years. More are predicted. Maybe NASA should tell the public about this cycle of asteroids.

[Bojax39]

Is it really necessary to make this crap newsworthy? If one stands a more than average chance of hitting us, THAT would be news. Things that won't impact us at all aren't.

[maxblankly]

All this recent asteroid business reminds me of this novel I just read called THE MYOSHI EFFECT which is about an asteroid headed toward earth and how everybody reacts and the government tries to find a way to deflect it. Granted the novel is humorous, like Dr Strangelove or Douglas Adams or something, but how we just reacted to these last 2 space rocks is almost taken from the pages of the book. Fiction and fact are fast becoming one.

[steamed2]

The article's author quotes figures concerning 'near-earth' asteroids that would seem doubtful considering the very content of the story. In just the past few months there has been an alarming number of previously unknown asteroids, (including the one over Russia that had its trajectory been steeper would have done considerably more damage), suggesting we really don't know what's whizzing by us. It's plain that in reality the Earth could get whacked at any time. Okay, the odds are it only happens every few hundred thousand years, but it can also be argued we're over due again. when it happens it will likely change the planet, climate, etc., as humans know it today, and yet we are doing very little to insure we survive unscathed, but we'll spend countless billions changing the color of our cars or coveting the latest cell phone. For an intelligent species we're really rather pathetic.

[BertMcDirt]

when it happens, there's nothing to be done about it. Our sense of technological prowess and hubris are borne out of our civilization's good luck in existing during an unusual period of climatic, tectonic, and celestial calm. Our species may survive a significant impact, but our civilization will not.