Third Asteroid Passes Earth in Under 24 Hours

Mar 06, 2014 07:08 PM EST | Matt Mercuro

A 25-foot-wide asteroid came within 38,300 miles of Earth today in the third close-call in under 24 hours, according to SPACE.com.

In comparison, the moon orbits Earth approximately 239,000 miles away.

The asteroid, which has been called 2014 EC, was closest to Earth at 4:21 p.m. EST, according to NASA.

"This is not an unusual event," Paul Chodas, a senior scientist in the Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement, according to NASA. "Objects of this size pass this close to the Earth several times every year."

The close encounter came just a day after two space rocks soared past Earth the same day. On March 5, a 100-foot-wide asteroid, known as 2014 DX110, passed within 217,000 miles of Earth.

Asteroid 2014 EF, which is closer in size to 2014 EC, passed Earth later on that night. Its closest approach was about twice as far from Earth as 2014 EC's closest approach, according to NASA.

"A third asteroid, 2014 EF, which is closer in size to today's 2014 EC, passed Earth at about 7 p.m. PST (10 p.m. EST) Wednesday, with closest approach about twice as far from Earth as 2014 EC's closest approach," NASA officials said.

NASA confirmed last night that 2014 EC would not be viewable through small telescopes or binoculars. If you had your hands on a moderately sized telescope and knew where to look, you would have been able to see it flyby, according to Space.com.

The chances that 2014 EC will ever hit Earth are at approximately 1 in 2.7 million, according to NASA.

The most recent asteroid was discovered on March 4, and is about half the size of the asteroid that exploded over a Russian city in Feb. 2013.

The incident injured 1,500 people.

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