Asteroid to Miss Us By Less Than Earth’s Diameter
The asteroid is the size “of an RV.” About 10 meters in diameter, says Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy.
“It’ll be a particularly close shave — passing just 12,400 km (7430 miles) from Earth’s surface; a bit less than the diameter of the Earth itself — but it’ll miss for sure.”
Phil points out awesome graphics by Pasquale Tricarico, here, done up as if you were riding in toward Earth on the asteroid itself (second image).
This asteroid – creatively named “2011 MD” – would supposedly break up in the atmosphere if it were to actually “hit” us.
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