NASA: Asteroid as Long as a London Bus Came 12,000 Miles From Earth albawaba.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from albawaba.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
An asteroid almost as long as a London bus came just 12,000 miles from the Earth, closer to the planet than many geostationary satellites, according to NASA.
According to astronomers from the Virtual Telescope Project, the asteroid, dubbed 2021 GW4, posed no threat to Earth as it passed at a safe distance and was small enough that it would have burned up in the atmosphere had it been closer.
On April 12 at 14:01 BST the space rock came just 12,000 miles from the planet while travelling at 18,700 miles per hour, astronomers explained.
For comparison the moon is 238,000 miles from the Earth and geostationary satellites, including those providing GPS services, are about 20,000 miles away.