New Asteroid Expected to Zip Past Earth
For people worried that the planet will explode from an asteroid crash, you can breathe easy today.
A newly discovered asteroid, the 2010GA6, is scheduled to zoom past Earth Thursday within the moon's orbit around 7:06 p.m. EDT, according to NASA researchers, Space.com reports.
"Fly bys of near-Earth objects within the moon's orbit occur every few weeks," said Don Yeomans of NASA's Near-Earth Object Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., in a statement.
The asteroid is relatively small - 71 feet wide - and was first spotted by astronomers in Tucson, Ariz.
This will not be the first asteroid of the year to come close to the planet. An asteroid flew past Earth in January.