Asteroid gives the Earth a close shave
An asteroid big enough to wipe out a major country gave the Earth a close shave yesterday, passing less than twice the distance of the Moon from our planet, astronomers reported.
The space rock, designated 2001 YB5, measures between 220 and 490 metres and at its closest point, at 6:37pm, Sydney time, was about 600,000km from the Earth, according to varying estimates on US and European specialist websites.
2001 YB5 was spotted in early December by a Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) survey telescope on Mount Palomar in California, NASA said on its Near-Earth Object (NEO) Program website.
Although there was no danger of collision from the asteroid, experts said the distance was a whisker in cosmic terms.
"Such an object would literally wipe out a medium-sized country and lead to a global economic meltdown, unless we were extremely fortunate and it hit somewhere remote," Benny Peiser, an asteroid expert at Liverpool John Moores University, told AFP by phone.
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