Tag Archives: satellite

Asteroid Passes Closer to Earth than Satellites

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From today’s Yahoo News. Breathe easy, Earthling.

Earth Safe from Asteroid’s Close

Flyby Next Week

By Mike Wall | SPACE.com – 14 hrs ago

An asteroid will give Earth a historically close shave next week, but there’s no chance that the space rock will slam into our planet on this pass, experts say.

The 150-foot-wide (45 meters) asteroid 2012 DA14 will zoom within 17,200 miles (27,700 kilometers) of our planet on Feb. 15, coming nearer than the ring of satellites in geosynchronous orbit. While the flyby will be the closest ever known in advance for such a large asteroid, there’s no reason to retreat to the doomsday bunker.