London, April 2 (IANS) Earth had a near miss from an 150-foot asteroid that was detected only two weeks ago, it was revealed Monday.
The space rock, 2012 EG5, flew past Earth Sunday closer than the moon, at a distance of just 143,000 miles, the Daily Mail reported.
The asteroid has a diameter of around 150 feet – and would have exploded with the force of an atomic weapon had it hit the planet. Nothing is known about its likely composition.
An impact with an asteroid of that size would not cause a planet-wide disaster similar to the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago but would hit Earth’s surface and explode.
The asteroid was spotted by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawaii March 13.
