Asteroid passes Earth by a mere 17,100 miles
February 15th, 2013
02:56 PM ET

Asteroid passes Earth by a mere 17,100 miles

[Updated at 2:56 p.m. ET] And, there it went.

The asteroid 2012 DA14 has made its closest approach to Earth at 2:24 p.m. ET, at a distance of about 17,200 miles above the planet's surface, NASA says.

[Posted at 1:16 p.m. ET] Scientists say you don't have to worry about asteroid 2012 DA14 hitting Earth. But if you'd like to keep an eye on it as it makes an exceptionally close pass this afternoon, NASA has a camera for you.

The asteroid, thought to be 45 meters long - about half a football field - will come to is closest point to Earth at 2:24 p.m.come no closer than 17,100 miles from our planet's surface.

NASA has a camera trained on it. Watch it live here, and check out our live blog of the event. 

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Filed under: Space
soundoff (17 Responses)
  1. Ooh I seen pixels and I seen grain

    A nicely grainy picture. It sort of looks like one of those 3-D magic-eye things.

    February 15, 2013 at 1:42 pm | Report abuse |
    • banasy©

      Clever shout out to James Taylor!

      February 15, 2013 at 3:12 pm | Report abuse |
  2. saywhat

    It whizzed by just now so we should be thankful.

    February 15, 2013 at 2:36 pm | Report abuse |
  3. bobcat (in a hat)©

    That's the biggest rock I ever didn't see.

    February 15, 2013 at 2:42 pm | Report abuse |
    • banasy©

      Lol @Rawr! My sentiments exactly!

      February 15, 2013 at 3:03 pm | Report abuse |
  4. banasy©

    You're a pain in the asteroid.

    February 15, 2013 at 3:07 pm | Report abuse |
  5. banasy©

    The Russion one is a meteorite. This is a asteroid.

    February 15, 2013 at 3:22 pm | Report abuse |
  6. banasy©

    *Russian

    February 15, 2013 at 3:24 pm | Report abuse |
  7. Spaceman Spliff

    Like throwing rocks down a gravity well. If you could detonate a superfast rock like that at the right speed and alt..itude....it would make a conventional ballistic weapon with kiloton-blast effects. No nuclear stuff needed.

    February 15, 2013 at 3:41 pm | Report abuse |
    • Spaceman Spliff

      I should add that this sort of crash-landing capability is similar to flying an airplane into a building, and an overwhelming argument in favor of denying space-flight to pretty much anyone in self-defense. Funny how slow we've been to develop into a space-oriented culture, hmm?

      February 15, 2013 at 3:43 pm | Report abuse |
  8. chrissy

    Lol @ banasys "pain in the asteroid"! I love that!

    February 15, 2013 at 4:19 pm | Report abuse |
  9. chrissy

    Umm @ CNN thanks for the WHOOPS message and for booting me off line. You said to drop you a note on your System Failure so here it is.

    February 15, 2013 at 4:45 pm | Report abuse |
  10. Rascal Rabble

    how is is it you can see (barely) the asteroid but missed the glaring meteorite whizzing by to hit russian???

    February 15, 2013 at 6:06 pm | Report abuse |
  11. bobcat (in a hat)©

    Asteroids. Is that what astronauts get from sitting on the cold ground ?

    February 15, 2013 at 8:11 pm | Report abuse |
  12. chrissy

    New Quirky News just in: A Times Square Spider~Man claims he was attacked by a snowball~flinging mom, so he punched her. This would never happen to Superman!

    February 15, 2013 at 8:40 pm | Report abuse |
  13. chrissy

    And btw superman says hi to all his homies.

    February 15, 2013 at 8:42 pm | Report abuse |
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