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Just in case you haven't been paying attention to the news, there's an asteroid hurtling toward Earth.
Fortunately, it will miss us -- although not by much; as Mark Thompson would put it, a "butt-clenchingly close" 7,500 miles -- but even if it did collide with Earth, all indications are that it would burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere.So, at around 1 p.m. EDT today, this chunk of space rock, estimated to be approximately 5-20 meters wide, will make its closest approach over the Southern Hemisphere (roughly over the South Atlantic). But astronomers have already been hard at work to grab a look at 2011 MD before its orbit gets all bent out of shape by the Earth's gravitational field.
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Image credits: Mark Thompson/Faulkes Telescope (stills), Nick Howes/Ernesto Guido/Giovanni Sostero/Faulkes Telescope (animation).
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