Bus-sized asteroid buzzes Earth today passing within 36,000 miles of our atmosphere



An asteroid the size of a bus is set to pass extremely close to Earth today.

The asteroid 2012 BX34, will pass within 36,750 miles of Earth at about 3:30 p.m GMT/10:30am EST Friday, tweeted astronomers with NASA's Asteroid Watch program.



Even though this is more than five times closer than the moon, at 11 meters wide, the rock won’t be any threat to Earth.

Passing Friday, the asteroid 2012 BX34 is 11 metres wide. It will come more than five times closer to Earth than the moon

‘It wouldn't get through our atmosphere intact even if it dared to try,’ Asteroid Watch scientists tweeted Thursday.



Asteroid Watch is a part of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

For an asteroid to cause real damage to Earth, it needs to measure at least 140m, experts estimate.

At that size they can cause widespread destruction near where they hit but will need to be far larger to cause trouble globally.

Just passin' by: This is the path of the small asteroid which will make an extremely close pass by Earth today

With this danger in mind, scientists in Germany have just launched a study to develop an asteroid shield.

With funds from the European Commission, the NEOShield project is expected to take three years to complete.

Some of the scientists will look at include repelling asteroids with projectiles or explosives or using gravity to change its course.

Still today's asteroid passing should offer a good show:

