[On Tuesday, February 5], lost within the orange glow of the setting sun, a newly discovered asteroid passed within 84,000 miles of our planet, just a third of the distance to the Moon, and barely anyone noticed. A sharp-eyed skywatcher with a good pair of binoculars might have seen the unfamiliar object gliding silently through Aquarius. But did they know what they were seeing was a very unexpected asteroid? Would they have understood just how close it really was?

Near-Earth Object, 2008 CT1, was discovered only two days before [the] close pass by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research project, an MIT project funded by the USAF and NASA committed to discovering space rocks that orbit near Earth. Using robotic telescopes located at New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range, the project has contributed nearly 70% of world-wide Near-Earth Asteroid discoveries since beginning operations in 1998.



[The] asteroid, estimated between 8m - 15m wide, sounds small as asteroids go, but recent studies suggest that even smaller rocks can be devastating. The cause of the Tunguska Event of the early 20th Century is now believed to be a 35m rock that never even touched the surface. The new hypothesis suggests it exploded a few miles above the ground, creating a shockwave that wreaked havoc on the ground beneath. Just last September, the Earth-impacting meteorite that created a 13m wide crater in Peru is estimated to have been just 0.2m - 2m wide.

[This most recent asteroid] pass was very close on a cosmic scale - and its late discovery makes it an even closer call. Asteroid 2007 TU24 got a lot of media attention last week, but we knew that one was coming and where to look. We even caught a glimpse on Slooh. With all the telescopes pointed to the heavens, watching the skies for that next great impactor, there are still rocks that slip by unnoticed. Observing close encounters with known asteroids is a great opportunity to learn more about our Solar System, and how to spot future Near Earth Objects - even those not on our radar yet.