Space.com reported that a small asteroid buzzed the Earth late Friday EDT flying just inside the orbit of the moon.
The space rock, named 2009 TM8, was just discovered Thursday by the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona.
NASA’s Asteroid Watch team reported Friday via Twitter “Small asteroid 2009 TM8 will pass Earth safely on 10/17 at 216,000 miles/348,000 km. That’s slightly closer than the orbit of our moon”
The asteroid hunters at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., stands on constant watch for rogue space rocks that could pose an impact risk to Earth.
2009 TM8 is tiny. It is about 30 feet (7 meters) across and was discovered Thursday by skywatchers, JPL officials told SPACE.com. Such close passes are not unheard of.
With smaller objects, which are hard to find, announcements like this often come at the last minute. Researchers say there is a risk, however, of Earth eventually being hit by an undetected small asteroid that could cause heavy localized or even regional damage.
2009 TM8 was not visible to the eye.
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