Asteroid to buzz earth tonight, closest approach of this size in 300 years

An asteroid will narrowly miss striking the planet tonight, the closest an asteroid of this size has been to Earth in the last 300 years.  EarthSky reports the asteroid is 197 to 427 feet, or “as big across as a city block,” Dr. Erin Ryan, an asteroid expert at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, tells NBC News. Sky watchers can see the asteroid fly past at 6:05 p.m. Eastern Time with a telescope.  The Northolt

Branch Observatories in London began live streaming the asteroid last night on Facebook. “There are many close approaches from asteroids, [but] most are very small. Only very few objects of [this] size have ever been seen coming closer than the Moon,” NBO astronomer Guy Wells told Newsweek.  READ MORE