Small asteroid to pass earth, distance about earth’s diameter

A small asteroid is expected to whiz by earth on Monday. It's about 16 feet to 65 feet wide. At its closest, it will be only 7,500 miles from the earth, a distance that's a little less than the diameter of the earth.

The closest point will occur on Monday June 27, 9:30 a.m. ET and over the Atlantic Ocean. It should be briefly visible to amateur astronomers who have a modest-sized telescope.

NASA scientists don't anticipate the asteroid to hit the earth. Even if it does, it'll burn up in the atmosphere and cause no damage to the earth's surface due to its small size. An asteroid of this size is expected to come this close to the earth about once every 6 years.

The asteroid, dubbed 2011 MD, was first discovered on June 22 by a NASA team in Mexico. It's in an earth-like orbit about the sun, said NASA. Its trajectory in relation to the earth is illustrated below.

On November 8, a 1,300 feet asteroid is expected to pass by 200,000 miles from the earth.

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