Fifth closest Asteroid documented passes the planet

An asteroid about the size of a bus will zoom above the Atlantic Monday morning. It's going to move only about 7,500 miles over the ground. It is the 5th nearest near-miss in documented history, and is closer to us than the moon. Post resource - Fifth closest Asteroid recorded shaves the passes earth [1] by Newsytype.com.

It should not be a problem

Scientists say there will not be a collision to occur even though the 2011 MD asteroid is very near. Asteroid 2011 CQ1 didn't hit The planet even though it came within 3,405 miles of Earth in Feb. 2011. Those Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) scientists in Pasadena, Calif., did an Asteroid Watch Twitter feed where they said they are in the skies watching:

 

"Scientists will use the close pass as an opportunity to study it with radar observations... Stony asteroids of less than 25 meters will break up in Earth's atmosphere and not cause ground damage."

 

Discovery through LINEAR

The asteroid 2011 MD was found on June 22 by LINEAR, a pair of robotic telescopes located in New Mexico. The reason for the devices is to protect The planet. They continuously watch for asteroids about to hit.

Near-misses more common than once thought

Asteroids are small products of minerals and ice which orbit the sun. The larger ones are often called planetoids. The asteroids mostly all orbit in around the same area. They stay between Jupiter and Mars for probably the most part. At one time, it was believed that passing asteroids were a rare occurrence. However, better detection methods have taught scientists that such incidents are much more common than once thought.

There are nearly 8,100 Near-Earth products on record. Approximately 1,236 of them have been large enough and close enough to have been classified as Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs).

National Aeronautics and Space Administration shoots for asteroids

In the wake of NASA's scrubbed shuttle program, the organization has announced its intention demolition to an asteroid as its next challenge. That mission, prepared for 2020, will target asteroid 1999 RQ36, which has a 1 in 1,800 chance of striking the earth by 2170.

Information from

Space.com

space.com/12067-asteroid-2011-md-close-earth-flyby-june-27.html

Universe Today

universetoday.com/87035/another-asteroid-to-give-earth-a-close-shave-june-27-2011/

Huffington Post

huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/27/asteroid-today-2011_n_885052.html