Planetary Resources: Asteroid Mining Could Make Space Travel Cheaper
Asteroid 2012 TC4 will be flying past Earth, and Slooh is providing live-streaming footage of its journey. Nasa/JPL

Asteroid 2012 DA14 made headlines and set panic worldwide this week after NASA astronomers announced the 15-story-wide asteroid is expected to nearly skim the Earth on Feb 15.

Officials made it clear that the rock will not hit the Earth, but will travel 17,000 miles (27,000 kilometers) from our blue home. The flyby will be closer than some man-made satellites that orbit the planet.

However, asteroid 2012 DA14 is just one of several space objects that NASA officials say has a chance of hitting the Earth, albeit small.

Below is a list of the objects that NASA researchers are tracking:

2006 JY26

1 in 119 chance of hitting the Earth

Diameter: 7 meters (23 feet)

Predicted speed: 11.53 km/second (25,791 mph)

Year range expected to pass Earth: 2073-2110

2009 FD

1 in 526 chance of hitting the Earth

Diameter: 130 meters (426 feet)

Predicted speed: 19.39 km/second, (43,374 mph)

Year range expected to pass Earth: 2185 - 2190

2011 AG5

1 in 625 chance of hitting the Earth

Diameter: 140 meters (459 feet)

Predicted speed: 14.67 km/second (6,558 mph)

Year range expected to pass Earth: 2040-2047

2000 SG344

1 in 714 chance of hitting the Earth

Diameter: 37 meters (121 feet)

Predicted speed: 11.23 km/ second (25,121 mph)

Year range expected to pass Earth: 2069-2094

2011 AM37

1 in 909 chance of hitting the Earth

Diameter: 4 meters (13 feet)

Predicted speed: 11.73 km/second (26,239 mph)

Year range expected to pass Earth: 2044-2108

Source: Near Earth Object Program, NASA

NASA Asteroid NASA NASA