Real-time Stock quotes, portfolio, LIVE TV and more. Feb 08,
2013, 09.15 AM IST A small asteroid will pass closer to Earth
next week than the TV satellites that ring the planet, but there
is no chance of an impact, NASA said on Thursday. The celestial
visitor, known as 2012 DA14, was discovered in 2012 by a group
of amateur astronomers in Spain. The asteroid is about the size
of an Olympic swimming pool at 150 feet (46 m) in diameter and
is projected to come as close as 17,100 miles (27,520 km) from
Earth during its February 15 approach. That would make it the
closest encounter since scientists began routinely monitoring
asteroids about 15 years ago. Television, weather and
communications satellites fly about 500 miles (800 km) higher.
The moon is 14 times farther away. Even so, "no Earth impact is
possible," astronomer Donald Yeomans, with NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., told reporters during a
conference call. The time of the asteroid's closest approach
will be 2:24 pm EST (1924 GMT),