|Asteroid 2012 LZ1 (NASA)| Asteroid 2012 LZ1, a gigantic
asteroid classified as "potentially hazardous," is "about the
same size" as lasts year's Asteroid 2005 YU55 that came within
202,000 miles from Earth whereupon no asteroid as big had come
so close to Earth since 1976. However, the newly-discovered
1,650-foot-wide Asteroid 2012 LZ1 passed farther from Earth than
Asteroid 2005 YU55 and was never close enough to threaten Earth,
or to be seen by most backyard skywatchers. During its closest
approach at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, the near-Earth asteroid came
within 3.3 million miles, about 14 times the distance between
Earth and the moon. The Slooh Space Camera, an online
observatory website, streamed live views of LZ1's flyby that
were captured by a telescope in the Canary Islands, off the west
coast of Africa. Although Asteroid 2012 LZ1 never posed much of
an impact threat, Slooh Space Camera president Patrick Paolucci
said it should still be considered a close brush in astronomical
terms. "It's relatively big