Huge Asteroid To Skim Past Earth At 18,641mph

• Huge Asteroid To Skim Past Earth At 18,641mph

A 150ft-long asteroid will skim past the Earth today - closer than any other near-miss on record. The huge chunk of rock - so big it is capable of wiping out London - will travel closer to the planet than many satellites.

But while it should be visible as a tiny dot of light crossing the sky to those using binoculars, scientists say there is no chance it will hit Earth. There is a remote possibility that it could collide with one of more than 100 telecommunication and weather satellites in fixed orbits.

Experts have been closely tracking the asteroid, 2012 DA14, since its discovery a year ago.
They say it will reach its nearest point to Earth at around 7.30pm UK time on Friday. It will stay at least 17,200 miles (27,681km) away - easily far enough to be safe - but very close in astronomical terms.

Astronomer and asteroid expert Dr Dan Brown, from Nottingham Trent University , said: "It will be too faint for the naked eye but with binoculars it should be visible if you know where to look. It will be low to the northeastern horizon and moving quite quickly.

"You'll be able to see it pass from the constellation Leo to roughly the Plough, more or less from anywhere in the UK, and it will be bright for about an hour."

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