ATLANTA (WXIA) – On March 5, a 100-foot wide asteroid will make one of the closest possible shaves of the Earth without striking the planet, missing us by only about 11,000 miles.
Scientists at NASA's Center for Near Earth Orbit Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratories in Pasadena, Calif., said they have been able to determine that there is no chance the asteroid, dubbed 2013 TX68, will hit the Earth on this fly-by.
Scientists said that by studying the orbit of the asteroid, which was discovered in October 2013, they have determined that there is a 1-in-250 million chance that it will strike the earth on September 28, 2017. Flybys in 2046 and 2097 have even lower chances of impacting the planet.
"The possibilities of collision on any of the three future fly-by dates are far too small to be of any real concern. I fully expect any future observations to reduce the probability even more," said Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Center for NEO Studies.
Scientists have determined that when it passes on March 5, it will most likely be visible not only from scientific imaging equipment, but probably by amateur backyard astronomers as well.
