Commercial Jet-Sized Asteroid Came Close To Earth April 1

On Sunday, April 1, an asteroid came close to the earth, but had no chance of impacting our planet according to NASA. The asteroid in question is about the size of a commercial jet and is called 2012 EG5. When the asteroid passed the earth, it was closer to the planet than the moon.

The rock was about 150 feet wide according to NASA and its flyby had been announced last Friday. The official distance from the earth was on 143,000 miles at the asteroid's closest point. That distance puts it roughly half the distance between the Earth and the moon. Two smaller asteroids had passed relatively close to the earth a week prior to EG5's flyby.

None of the asteroids posed a risk of impact with the Earth. The two smaller asteroids were large enough to survive a trip to the Earth's atmosphere intact according to researchers. It's not clear if 2012 EG5 could have survived a trip to the atmosphere the impact the surface of the earth.

[via Space.com]