By JAKE ELLISON, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF
This is a screengrab from NASA's video explaining just how close the asteroid will get.
NASA announced today that an asteroid 150-feet in diameter will pass close, but safely, by the Earth on Feb. 15. "Since regular sky surveys began in the 1990s, astronomers have never seen an object so big come so close to our planet," NASA said.
The small near-Earth asteroid – 2012 DA14 – will pass so close that it will pass inside the ring of geosynchronous weather and communications satellites.
"NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office can accurately predict the asteroid's path with the observations obtained, and it is therefore known that there is no chance that the asteroid might be on a collision course with Earth," the agency said in a press release.
"Nevertheless," it wrote, "the flyby will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study a near-Earth object up close."
Yeah, real close – check out the graphics above to see just how close.
The agency will hold a teleconference on Thursday to talk more about the asteroid's flyby.
Sources: San francisco chronicle
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