An asteroid estimated to be up to 100 feet wide made a close shave with Earth today, as it soared past at a distance of just 27,000 miles above the surface – or, as some scientists have put it, ‘damn close.’
The house-sized space rock, dubbed asteroid 2012 TC4, is about 30-100 feet (10-30 metres) in size, and flew by at just one-eighth of the distance between Earth and the moon at 06:42 BST (01:42 EST) today.
The asteroid will pass 172,000 miles (277,000 km) from the moon later today at 20:19 BST (15:19 EST).
It first flitted past our planet in October 2012 at about double the distance of its next expected pass, before disappearing.
But, after tracking it down last month, scientists were able to assure it made a safe pass today.
An asteroid estimated to be up to 100 feet wide made a close shave with Earth today, as it soared past at a distance of just 27,000 miles above the surface – or, as some scientists have put it, ‘damn close’
With this close approach, Nasa had the opportunity to test its network of observatories for its planetary defense system, in the event an asteroid did actually hit Earth.
The space agency is yet to confirm that it was able to test the system this morning.
Speaking before the asteroid passed by, Dr Michael Kelly, a scientist working on the Nasa TC4 observation campaign, said: ‘Scientists have always appreciated knowing when an asteroid will make a close approach to and safely pass the Earth because they can make preparations to collect data to characterise and learn as much as possible about it.
‘This time we are adding in another layer of effort, using this asteroid flyby to test the worldwide asteroid detection and tracking network, assessing our capability to work together in response to finding a potential real asteroid threat.’
The asteroid, dubbed 2012 TC4, first flitted past our planet in October 2012 at about double the distance of its next expected pass, before disappearing. In this tweet, the ESA announced they calculate it passing at a distance of around 44,000 kilometres (27,300 miles)
ESA scientists tracked the house-sized space rock using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile this summer.
They expected the asteroid to return for a near-Earth rendezvous this year, but did not know just how close it would come.
The latest observations, made on July 27, 31, and then again on August 5, revealed 2012 TC4 would pass within one eighth of the moon’s distance from the planet.
During the pass, it shaved past Earth at a distance of around 44,000 kilometres (27,300 miles) – far enough out to just miss our geostationary satellites, according to calculations.
‘It’s damn close,’ said Rolf Densing, who heads the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany.
‘The farthest satellites are 36,000 kilometres (22,400 miles) out, so this is indeed a close miss,’ he said.
‘As close as it is right now, I think this prediction is pretty safe, meaning that it will miss.’
If the asteroid did hit Earth, it could have lead to a much more devastating level of impact than the 18 metre (59 foot) asteroid that hit the city of Chelyabinsk in Russia in 2013.
The asteroid was spotted by scientists this summer for the first time in five years. ESA has tracked down the giant hunk of rock (circled) which is about 15 to 30 metres (49 to 98 feet) long
According to Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory , the asteroid’s next ‘close-approach’ to Earth will take place on December 29, 2019 – although at a much further distance of more than 21 million miles (34 million km)
That particular blast injured about 1,500 people, and damaged over 7,000 buildings, and experts now say 2012 TC4 is ‘something to keep an eye on.’
According to Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the asteroid’s next ‘close-approach’ to Earth will take place on December 29, 2019 – although at a much further distance of more than 21 million miles (34 million km).
If it had made impact with Earth’s atmosphere, scientists predicted the space rock would burn up before hitting the surface.
During the pass, Nasa hoped to use its international network of observatories to recover, track and characterize 2012 TC4.
‘This is the perfect target for such an exercise because while we know the orbit of 2012 TC4 well enough to be absolutely certain it will not impact Earth, we haven’t established its exact path just yet,’ said Paul Chodas, a manager working on the project.
‘It will be incumbent upon the observatories to get a fix on the asteroid as it approaches, and work together to obtain follow-up observations than make more refined asteroid orbit determinations possible.’