A house - sized asteroid fly past our planet today at about 58 per centum the space between the Earth and the Moon . The aim , known as2017 YZ4 , is estimated to be between 7 and 15 meters ( 23 and 49 feet)–slightly littler than theChelyabinsk meteorthat exploded over Russia in 2013 .
2017 YZ4 was only fall upon on Christmas Day by theMount Lemmon Survey , which is one of the most successful detectors of near - Earth object ( NEOs ) in the world . 2017 YZ4 is an asteroid in the Apollo family , a radical characterized by orbits that are panoptic than Earth ’s but fly closer to the Sun than our own planet .
The asteroid ’s closest approach happened around 10:56 Eastern Time at 224,396 kilometers ( 139 433 mile ) from the surface of our satellite . This is a safe aloofness , not that we could do much about it since it was only fall upon a few days ago . It has a speed of 9.5 kilometers ( 5.9 miles ) per 2nd congener to our satellite , so you would n’t want to be on its path .
According toNASA ’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies , this was the snug asteroid since 2017 WA14 approached Earth on November 21 . In 2017 , there have been another 51 aim that ended up flying within one lunar distance . All but one , 2012 TC4 , were discovered this class as they were draw near our planet .
NASA and other space agencies used 2012 TC4 to study the asteroid in detail . They even ran test to better understand our asteroid word of advice systems and to determine how subject we would be at fighting off these objective .
While 2017 YZ4 might not posture an extermination - level threat to our satellite , we require to remain argus-eyed as these object can make far-flung impairment , like the above - mentioned Chelyabinsk shooting star whose stupor wave check window and injured thousands . For this understanding , NASA and the European Space Agency have projects monitoring NEOs .
So far , we have expose just asmall percentageof the estimated 1 million wild asteroids larger than 30 measure ( 100 feet ) that dwell the quad around Earth . Only aboutone in fourasteroids large than 100 measure ( 328 base ) have been notice .
team are trying their skillful to come up with the correct tools to protect us against this improbable but serious threat ; however , we presently stay lamentably unprepared .
