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http://www.mahalo.com/asteroids-pass-by-earth

Not one, but two small asteroids came whizzing by Earth on Wednesday, September 8, 2010. Both asteroids came fairly close to Earth, within the moon's orbit, but not close enough to pose any threat to our planet. That's the message David Yeomans, the manager of NASA's "Near Earth" Program, had for CNN. He and others are responsible for tracking potentially hazardous asteroids and comets that come close to Earth. Close, by the way, is defined as "within 28 million miles."

So, how close did these two "space rocks" actually come to Earth? According to scientists, the first asteroid, which measured between 32 and 65 feet in diameter, passed within 154,000 miles of earth at 5:51 a.m. EST. The second small asteroid, measuring between 20 and 46 feet in diameter, came within about 49,000 miles of Earth at 5:12 p.m. EST. These asteroids were traveling in entirely different orbits. The first asteroid was closest to the northern Pacific and the second was closest to Antartica. Scientists say neither asteroid came close enough to be seen with the naked eye.

And it's not an uncommon event. Lindley Johnson, who heads up NASA's "Near Earth" Program, told Discovery News that "Objects this small pass by Earth pretty frequently," adding that even if the asteroids were to hit Earth, they'd likely break apart in our atmosphere and "They wouldn't do any damage."

But what about other, potentially larger near-Earth objects, or NEOs? Discovery says "about 20 percent of the known near-Earth objects are considered potentially hazardous" because they are large and because their orbits take them "within 4.6 million miles of the planet."

David Yeomans told CNN he considers today's "close calls" to be a "warning shot" and that scientists should step up their studies of near-Earth objects. Yeomans said "We have only recently appreciated how many of these objects are in near Earth's space and [it's] best that we keep track of them and find them. I think this is Mother Nature's way of firing a shot over the bow and warning Earth-based astronomers that we have a lot of work to do."

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