Surprise asteroid skimmed Earth on Christmas day
Channel: Civil Disturbia
Date: 2017-12-28

A "surprise" asteroid which NASA only spotted on Christmas Day has skimmed past the Earth.

The asteroid, named 2017 YZ4, came its nearest to Earth at 3:56pm GMT on Thursday, missing us by a mere 140,000 miles (224,000km).

In comparison the moon is 238,000 miles (384,000km) away.

It was travelling at approximately 21,000mph (34,000kph) - 16 times faster than a rifle bullet, covering the distance between London and New York in roughly 10 minutes.

It is the 52nd asteroid to skim past the Earth by a distance less than that of the Moon this year.

SOURCE: https://news.sky.com/story/surprise-bus-sized-asteroid-skims-past-earth-at-21000mph-11187594