RENO, Nev. (Mynews4.com & KRNV)- While NASA says there's no chance Asteroid 2012 DA14 heading towards Earth at this very moment will hit, this close fly-by will make history for other reasons.
"It's pretty exciting. A big rock is going to buzz the earth," said Dan Ruby, Assistant Director at the Fleischmann Planetarium and Science Center at UNR. "It's about the size of a jumbo jet, maybe. It seems huge but compared to the Earth it's the size of a spec of dust," said Ruby.
While asteroid 2012 DA 14 will not hit the Earth, it will be one of the closest recorded near-earth asteroids, says Ruby. "It's the closest something has come since we started paying attention in the 1990's to really big rocks."
Ruby says scientists have been monitoring asteroid 2012 DA 14 for about a year. They've been tracking it's path to make sure it would have no impact on the earth.
The asteroids closest approach will happen around 11:24 am here in Nevada. But it will not be viable to the naked eye. "It's too far up and so far away from our atmosphere," said Ruby.
NASA will be broadcasting the celestial event on their website,
http://www.nasa.gov/
