Football Field-Sized Asteroid to Pass Earth This Weekend
A giant asteroid the size of a football field is scheduled to pass through Earth’s atmosphere over the weekend. Scientists say that the 330-foot-wide fiery rock will miss striking the Earth’s surface by nearly 600,000 miles - about three times the distance between our planet and the moon.
Interestingly, scientists did not detect the imminent approach of the asteroid until just a few days ago, shortly after spotting a much smaller space rock which passed by Earth without incident earlier this week.
NASA researchers say that there are likely more than a million asteroids hurtling within close proximity to the Earth yet; roughly only 10,000 have been identified. Still, even with the chances of Earth being impacted by another meteor like the one that shook up Russia last month is a little nerve-racking. Scientists say that there are no signs of that an asteroid with the capacity to end human civilization exists.
Unfortunately for those amateur astrologists with curious eyes, viewing the arrival of asteroid 2013 ET when it passes by Earth this weekend is not possible unless you have access to some high-powered equipment. However, astrophysicist Gianiuca Masi of the Virtual Telescope Project in Italy says they plan to stream a live webcast of the close encounter on Friday, March 8, at 2 PM EST – tune in to watch the asteroid here.