Earth has a 'near miss' with asteroid
An asteroid discovered two years ago in December 2004, XP14, came almost as close as the moon yesterday
Asteroid XP14 came within 270,000 miles of the earth yesterday which is almost as close as the moon's distance to the earth. 270,000, miles may sound like too far away to cause any sort of concern, but by astronomical standards it is quite close.
The asteroid is half a mile wide as travels at approximately 17km per second. Astronomers say that if such an asteroid were to hit the earth the effects would be devastating, and that it has the potential to wipe out a small country.
Fortunately for us however, the asteroid is not predicited to come into any sort of contact with the earth for at least a century, and even that would be far sooner that many have predicted.
Astronomers say that we should be more worried about undiscovered asteroids, as there a far more out there. The progress of XP14 can be monitored and has been for two years.
The asteroid is half a mile wide as travels at approximately 17km per second. Astronomers say that if such an asteroid were to hit the earth the effects would be devastating, and that it has the potential to wipe out a small country.
Fortunately for us however, the asteroid is not predicited to come into any sort of contact with the earth for at least a century, and even that would be far sooner that many have predicted.
Astronomers say that we should be more worried about undiscovered asteroids, as there a far more out there. The progress of XP14 can be monitored and has been for two years.