Bus-sized asteroid to pass very close by Earth today.
ԱշխարհA small asteroid will make an extremely close pass by Earth today (Jan. 27), coming much nearer than the moon, but the space rock poses no danger of impacting our planet, NASA scientists say.
The newfound asteroid 2012 BX34, which is about the size of a city bus, will pass within 36,750 miles (59,044 kilometers) of Earth at about 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT) today, astronomers with NASA's Asteroid Watch program announced via Twitter.
The space rock is about 36 feet (11 meters) wide, making it much too small to pose a threat to Earth.
"It wouldn't get through our atmosphere intact even if it dared to try," Asteroid Watch scientists tweeted on Jan. 26. Asteroid Watch is based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.