An asteroid that scientists at the University of Arizona’s Catalina Sky Survey have been tracking since Jan. 7 has narrowly missed the Earth.
Measuring between 50 and 110 feet long and moving at 10 miles a second, the asteroid is called 2017 AG3 and came within just 120,000 miles of the Earth, or half the distance to the Moon, in the morning of Jan. 12. US Eastern Time.
While you were hitting snooze, we nearly hit an asteroid! At 7:47 AM EST an asteroid we only first spotted Saturday gave us a wake up call. pic.twitter.com/BbAQc7e2EJ
— Slooh (@Slooh) January 9, 2017
2017 AG3 was about the same size of the one that struck Russia in February 2013. That asteroid exploded near the city of Chelyabinsk with the force of dozens of atomic bombs, but luckily, it was high above the city and came in at a shallow angle, giving it more time to burn up in the atmosphere. Thousands of people received injuries but no one was killed.
Since 2017 AG3 orbits the Earth, it will come back—the next visit is expected at the end of December.
(NTD Television)
