Asteroid whizzes safely past Earth An asteroid the size of an
Olympic swimming pool has raced past Earth at a distance of
27,000 kilometres - the closest ever recorded fly-by for such a
large object. The asteroid, named 2012 DA14, is 45 metres wide.
Its closest approach to Earth was at 6.25am (AEDT), directly
over the eastern Indian ocean. Images from a telescope at the
Gingin Observatory in Western Australia showed the asteroid
looking like a white streak, moving across against a backdrop of
black sky. It stayed outside the Earth's atmosphere but was
closer than the orbit of most weather and communications
satellites. The asteroid is not nearly as large as the
10-kilometre-wide object that took out the dinosaurs, but would
be large enough to wipe out a large urban area if it were to
strike the Earth's surface. However there was no chance of an
impact today, and NASA says the object's orbit will keep it
further from the planet in the foreseeable future. The asteroid
presented scientists with a rare opportunit