A 200-foot wide asteroid zoomed past Earth today at an altitude of 40,000 miles - swerving far enough from our planet to avoid total destruction, officials said.
Dubbed 2009 DD45, the large rock was discovered only Friday by Australian astronomers.
The enormous asteroid narrowly avoided a collision with Earth at 8:44 EST, officials said.
Although 40,000 miles sounds like a safe distance, it's only about one-seventh of the way to the moon and less than twice as far out as most satellites, astronomers said.
Had 2009 DD45 slammed down onto the Earth, it would have exploded with the force of a large nuclear blast somewhere in the Pacific Ocean west of Tahiti.
Astronomers said the asteroid is likely to return for another series of near misses since it's somehow drawn in by our planet's gravity.
Peter Brown, an astronomer at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, said the last rock "as large or larger than this to come this close was in 1973 and the next time will be in 2029 when Apophis makes its close approach."
Apophis initially caused some concern among scientists when its plotted course revealed it to be on a collision trajectory with Earth, but further investigations have since shown it will pass harmlessly by.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03...isses_earth_157694.htm
Dubbed 2009 DD45, the large rock was discovered only Friday by Australian astronomers.
The enormous asteroid narrowly avoided a collision with Earth at 8:44 EST, officials said.
Although 40,000 miles sounds like a safe distance, it's only about one-seventh of the way to the moon and less than twice as far out as most satellites, astronomers said.
Had 2009 DD45 slammed down onto the Earth, it would have exploded with the force of a large nuclear blast somewhere in the Pacific Ocean west of Tahiti.
Astronomers said the asteroid is likely to return for another series of near misses since it's somehow drawn in by our planet's gravity.
Peter Brown, an astronomer at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, said the last rock "as large or larger than this to come this close was in 1973 and the next time will be in 2029 when Apophis makes its close approach."
Apophis initially caused some concern among scientists when its plotted course revealed it to be on a collision trajectory with Earth, but further investigations have since shown it will pass harmlessly by.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03...isses_earth_157694.htm
