Small asteroid to come close to Earth as it whizzes by

MIAMI - An asteroid is about to make a really close encounter with Earth, potentially one of the closest yet.

There is nothing to worry about though, there is no risk of the asteroid, dubbed 2023 BU, hitting our planet. But even if it did, this small asteroid would turn into a fireball and largely disintegrate harmlessly in the atmosphere, with some of the bigger debris potentially falling as small meteorites.

Estimated to be about the size of a box truck, the asteroid will zoom over the southern tip of South America on Thursday, about 22 hundred miles above the Earth's surface.

The asteroid was discovered by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov out of his observatory in Crimea last Saturday. 

In:
• NASA