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An asteroid the size of a small truck spent this weekend at a distance from the Earth four times less than what separates us from the moon. This is the latest in a parade of celestial objects has increased awareness of the potentially dangerous effects on the planet.
NASA said the asteroid 2013 LR6 was discovered about a day before its closest approach to Earth, which occurred at 04.42 GMT on Saturday only 105,000 miles on the Southern Ocean south of Tasmania, Australia .
asteroid 10 meters wide was not a threat. This type of small objects are very elusive for early detection systems asteroids. A week ago, the relatively large QE2, 2.7 miles wide, with its own moon in tow, went to 5.8 million kilometers from Earth.
“It is theoretically possible for a collision between asteroids and the planet Earth,” said astronomer Gianluca Masi, Virtual Telescope Project, during a broadcast on Google+ showing live images of the asteroid’s approach.
NASA says it has found 95 percent of large asteroids, those with diameters of 1 kilometer or larger, with orbits that take relatively close to Earth.
an object of that size hit Earth about 65 million years ago in what is now the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, causing global climate change is believed to be responsible for the disappearance of the dinosaurs and many other forms of life on Earth.
space agency U.S. and other research organizations, and private companies are working on tracking smaller objects flying near Earth.
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