'Beast' Asteroid Passes Earth in a Cosmic Near Miss

CBNNews.com
Sunday, June 08, 2014





An asteroid nicknamed "The Beast" passed by the earth Sunday, and while there was "zero chance" it would hit, the asteroid's trajectory barely missed the planet.

The asteroid passed 777,000 miles from Earth at its closest point, making it a fairly close miss.

Its official name is Asteroid 2014 HQ124, and it is more than 1100 feet wide, a piece of rock that would cause quite a bit of damage if it were to hit.

Asteroid expert Mark Boslough of Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico said, "This one would definitely be catastrophic if it hit the Earth."

He added, "If it hit a city, it would definitely wipe out an entire metropolitan area."

The asteroid was discovered in April by a NASA space telescope. NASA compared its size to a bus, while another scientist compared its dimensions to a movie theater.

Despite scientists' assurances that The Beast won't hit us, it has been designated as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid.


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