NEAR MISS!!! Did you know we were just missed by an Asteroid named A/2017 U1. It was pretty close to Earth (astronomically speaking), at only about 15,000,000 miles away at closest approach on 2017 October 14. It's about 500 ft in diameter and is moving at about 58,500 mph. Another close call. Whew!! Had it hit Earth it would have had serious implications for our civilization. It wasn't dicovered until 2017 October 19, several days after its closest approach.To read more just click the following URL:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A/2017_U1
Orbital data (See image below): Extrapolating the orbit backwards, the asteroid is calculated to have gone through perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on 2017 September 9, and to have passed approximately 0.161 AU (24,100,000 km; 15,000,000 mi) from Earth on 2017 October 14. The object is small and faint, and has already faded to naked eye invisibility.
This post mostly courtesy of Wikipedia, see above link.
