An Asteroid will pass near our planet today..,
The huge asteroid could be up to a mile long (1.6km). But luckily the giant will pass at a safe distance of 7.3 million miles.
Another huge asteroid will come hurtling towards Earth next week, and will sweep by more closely. The space rock is predicted to whistle past our planet at 31,000 miles (50,000km) per hour, on September 17.
Definition of an Asteroid
An asteroid is a large, irregularly shaped object in space that orbits our Sun. If one of these giant rocks ends up on a collision course with Earth, we are in for big trouble. An asteroid is like a comet. However, while comets are mostly made of ice, asteroidsare made up of rock or even metal.
At the flyby time, 18:12 GMT, the asteroid will be at about 24,800 miles (40,000 km) from the Earth’s surface.
For comparison, the average distance to the moon is 239,000 miles (384,000 km), which means the asteroid will pass at a tenth of that distance.
The Virtual Telescope project discovered the asteroid yesterday, and says when it passes Earth the asteroid will be visible from the southern hemisphere only.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3777694/Get-ready-close-encounter-Large-asteroid-come-TEN-times-nearer-Earth-moon-today.html
