Near miss, but no threat: Asteroid in close pass was smaller than thought, astronomer shows

(PhysOrg.com) -- On March 2, an asteroid whizzed past the Earth at a distance of just 41,000 miles -- a near miss by cosmic standards (most communications satellites orbit at a distance of about 22,300 miles from Earth). Headlines around the world proclaimed that Earth had dodged a bullet, and many mentioned that if the space rock had hit our planet, it might have packed a punch comparable to the Tunguska impact in 1908 that flattened trees over an 800-square-mile area in Siberia.

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<p><a href="http://www.physorg.com/news156514374.html">Near miss, but no threat: Asteroid in close pass was smaller than thought, astronomer shows</a></p> <p>(PhysOrg.com) -- On March 2, an <a href="http://www.physorg.com/news155287963.html">asteroid whizzed past the Earth</a> at a distance of just 41,000 miles -- a near miss by cosmic standards (most communications satellites orbit at a distance of about 22,300 miles from Earth). Headlines around the world proclaimed that Earth had dodged a bullet, and many mentioned that if the space rock had hit our planet, it might have packed a punch comparable to the Tunguska impact in 1908 that flattened trees over an 800-square-mile area in Siberia.</p>