Close encounter: Asteroid will zoom past Earth at a distance of just 24,800 miles – TheLiberal.ie – Our News, Your Views

Close encounter: Asteroid will zoom past Earth at a distance of just 24,800 miles




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Sounds like a lot, but when put into interstellar perspective, it is but a whisker. The Moon, for instance, it’s a mere 239,000 miles away from us.

The 32ft-long space rock, deemed 2016 RB1, was only spotted very recently. It will be visible from the southern hemisphere only when it zooms past our planet today.

A far larger rock, measuring almost 5,300ft, will hurtle past Earth soon, albeit at the safer distance of 7.3 million miles. If a rock that size were to impact against our planet, it would mean the annihilation of all life.

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