Small Asteroid Comes Closer than the Moon



In what look for all the universe like a cCosmic April fools joke asteroid called 2012 EG5 passed the Earth at just 143, 000 miles which is about 100,000 miles closer than the Moon. While the 150 foot across asteroide was never in any danger of colliding with the Earth it was still close

It had been  less than a week since two smaller asteroids had come even closer. On asteroid was about the size of a bus and passed within 96,000 miles of Earth. The other asteroid was the size of a car and passed just 36,000 miles away.

Even if one of these small rocks did hit the Earth they are too small to do any real damage unless they hit a populated area.

Three Small Asteroid Come Closer than the Moon

Small Asteroid Comes Closer than the Moon

The Earth may have hundreds of tiny moons

The asteroid is called 2006 RH120, and oddly enough from about 7/2006 to about 7/2007 it was a temporary moon of the Earth. Being only a few meters across and it was first thought to be a spent rocket stage but further studies showed it to be an asteroid.

The discovery of 2006 RH120 lead to a computer study that shows that at any given time the Earth probably has as many as 100 of the tiny moons at any given time, but they drift in and out of Earth orbit after staying around for a few months to a few hundred years. They tend to be small and dim making them hard to find but it is still an interesting discovery.

One value to search for them is that some are likely small enough to bring to Earth for study. Also the possibility exists of doing so a mining operation.