House-Sized Asteroid Passes By Earth

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An asteroid the size of a house is zooming past our planet at about 16,000 miles per hour.

The asteroid, known as 2012 TC4, was closest to Earth around 2 a.m. EST over Antarctica, at a distance of approximately 26,000 miles.

The asteroid is about 45 to 100 feet in size.

It poses no risk of impact with Earth, NASA said.

NASA is using the fly-by to see how well its planetary defense system would work if an asteroid were heading straight for the Earth.

In:
• NASA