Projected path of asteroid 2012 DA14 on its close pass on Feb.
15. The ring around the Earth is the geosynchronous orbit where
communications satellites orbit the Earth. (NASA/USA Today) (USA
Today) -- Close but not too close, a fast-moving asteroid will
pass 17,200 miles above Earth on Feb. 15, NASA reports. The
asteroid, 2012 DA14, is a space rock weighing roughly 143,000
tons and measuring 148 feet long, about half the size of a
football field. In comparison, satellites for television and
radio broadcasters like DirecTV, Dish Network and SiriusXM fly
at more than 23,000 miles in altitude NASA asteroid expert Don
Yeomans, author of Near-Earth Objects: Finding Them Before They
Find Us, compares the asteroid to the one that leveled hundreds
of square miles of Siberian forest in the "Tunguska Event" in
1908. Only this time Earth won't be hit, the space agency says.
Sky watchers might want to keep their eyes peeled that evening
as the asteroid should be visible with a backyard telescope. The
only problem will b