Bus-sized asteroid hurtles past Earth - so close it flew UNDER the moon



150-foot asteroid flew past Earth just 143,000 miles up

Only detected two weeks ago by telescope in Hawaii

Impact would have caused devastation equal to nuclear bomb



Earth had a near-miss on Sunday from an 150-foot asteroid that was detected only two weeks ago, it was revealed today.



The space rock, 2012 EG5, flew past earth closer than the moon, at a distance of just 143,000 miles.

The asteroid has a diameter of around 150 feet - and would have exploded with the force of an atomic weapon had it hit our planet.



The flight path of asteroid 2012 EG5, showing its near-miss with Earth on Sunday

Nothing is known about its likely composition. The asteroid flew past Earth on Sunday at 9.32am GMT.



An impact with an asteroid of that size would not cause a planet-wide disaster similar to the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago - but would hit Earth's surface and explode.



The asteroid was spotted by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawaii on March 13 this year.



'Asteroid 2012 EG5 will safely pass Earth on April 1,' said scientists at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory via a Twitter post.



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WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF A MAJOR ASTEROID IMPACT ON EARTH?

Nasa's latest scan for 'impact event' threats used the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE and took two infrared scans of the entire celestial sky between January 2010 and February 2011.



The scan aimed to find asteroids and comets 'near Earth' - ie within 120 million miles.



The scan found there are 20,500 asteroids and comets that could destroy a city-sized area within 120 million miles of earth - previously the figure was thought to be 36,000.



Nasa says the risk of impact is less than previously thought. The likelihood of a 'planet-killer' - the mountain-sized asteroids in the 'large-sized' range, above 3,300ft - appears to have fallen more significantly.



There are only 981 of these objects near Earth, and Nasa has found 911 of them.

The 1.8 meter (60-inch) diameter telescope on Haleakala is designed to automatically search the skies for objects that either move or change their brightness from night to night.



It contains the world’s largest digital camera, with 1,400 megapixels.]

Nasa has been keen to dispel any panic surrounding asteroids this year as rumours of an apocalypse linked to the Mayan calendar have surfaced on the internet.

'The Earth has always been subject to impacts by comets and asteroids, although big hits are very rare,' Nasa scientists wrote earlier this year.



'The last big impact was 65 million years ago, and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.



'Today Nasa astronomers are carrying out a survey called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit.



'We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs.

Two other smaller asteroids passed safely by Earth over the weekend.