The truck-sized asteroid will pass Earth on Jan. 26, in what NASA says will be one of the closest approaches by a near-Earth object on record.
NASA was quick to reassure people that the asteroid, which is estimated at between 11 feet and 28 feet feet across, would not end life as we know it on our planet.
“There is no risk of the asteroid impacting Earth,” NASA said, noting that even if it did, the small asteroid “would turn into a fireball and largely disintegrate harmlessly in the atmosphere.” The bigger pieces, scientists say, would then likely rain down as meteorites.Amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov discovered the asteroid on Saturday from his observatory in Nauchnyi, Crimea, NASA said.
A small asteroid is predicted to make one of the closest approaches by a near-Earth object ever recorded on Thursday, Jan. 26. Though it will pass within the orbit of geosynchronous satellites, there is no risk of the asteroid impacting Earth.
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