Large Asteroid Zooms Close to Earth, No One Saw it Coming

Scientists say an asteroid the size of a ten story building passed very close to Earth, and what's really scary is we hardly ever saw it coming.

The giant space rock, dubbed 2017 AG13, was only discovered Saturday by the Catalina Sky Survey. It buzzed by Earth at around thirty five thousand miles per hour Monday.

Now by "very close' we mean it came within 126,461 of the Earth, which probably sounds like a lot. However, by astronomical terms it's not. In fact, it's twice as close as the Moon's orbit.

Whoa.

Scientists say the asteroid was roughly between thirty six to one hundred eleven feet across. Something that size exploding in the atmosphere over a city would cause major damage. The

The NY Post breaks it down even further. A rock that size would have exploded at a force of 700 kilotons. The atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan during the WW2 was 20 kilotons.

About five new asteroids are generally discovered a day near Earth. Unfortunately, funding and a lack of eyes in the sky have are issues facing scientists.

Yes, there are far fewer scientists than you think watching the night sky for potential deadly asteroids and comets.

Sleep tight!