100 ft-wide Asteroid (2012 TC4) Set to Pass Extremely Close to Earth Next Week

Asteroid 2012 TC4 is expected to fly past Earth on October 12, and while NASA and ESA said it is “absolutely certain” the rock will miss the planet, they are unsure how close it will pass.

Early observations indicated that it could come as close as 4,200 miles from the Earth’s surface – well within the ring of geostationary satellites – on October 12.

However, new observations by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile reveal that it will miss our planet by 27,000 miles – roughly one-eighth of the distance to the Moon – which is still very close in astronomical terms.

Discovery Date: 2012-10-04 Observatory: Pan-STARRS 1, Haleakala http://neo.ssa.esa.int/close-approaches http://neo.ssa.esa.int/search-for-ast…

Asteroid 2012 TC4 is in risk list http://neo.ssa.esa.int/risk-page

Clips, images credit: ESA, NASA/JPL, ESO