GeologyRocks

A huge asteroid will streak over the Atlantic Monday morning, coming within 7,500 miles of the surface. That is nearer to the earth than the moon. It is the fifth nearest such occurrence recorded. Article resource - Fifth closest Asteroid recorded shaves the passes earth by Newsytype.com.

We're in no danger, scientists say

Although 2011 MD's trajectory is close in astronomical terms, scientists claim there is no danger of collision. The asteroid 2011 CQ1 came within 3,405 miles of Earth in February 2011. Nothing occurred then. Those Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) scientists in Pasadena, Calif., did an Asteroid Watch Twitter feed where they said they're in the skies watching:

"Scientists will use the close pass as an opportunity to study it with radar observations... Stony asteroids of less than 25 meters will break up in Earth's atmosphere and not cause ground damage."

If an asteroid gets near, LINEAR will find it

The asteroid 2011 MD was discovered on June 22 by LINEAR, a pair of robotic telescopes located in New Mexico. The devices are dedicated to searching for asteroids that approach The planet.

A ton of asteroids out there

Asteroids are small objects of minerals and ice which orbit the sun. Planetoids are the name for one that is pretty big. Much of the asteroids in the solar system are between Jupiter and Mars and orbit there. Asteroids were considered rare for a long time. That was the belief for centuries. However, better discovery methods have taught scientists that such incidents are much more common than once thought.

About 8,100 Near-Earth objects are out there and known about. When one is really close and very large, it is considered Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs). There have been 1,236 labeled this way.

The goal of National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Aeronautics and Space Administration's shuttle program is ending. At the same time, it announced it's going to soon demolish an asteroid. Asteroid 1999 RQ36 will be the asteroid shot in 2020 as the asteroid has a 1 in 1,800 chance of, by 2170, hitting the earth.

Citations

Space.com

space.com/12067-asteroid-2011-md-close-earth-flyby-june-27.html

Universe Today

universetoday.com/87035/another-asteroid-to-give-earth-a-close-shave-june-27-2011/

Huffington Post

huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/27/asteroid-today-2011_n_885052.html