NASA issued a statement today saying that an asteroid (asteroid 2012 EG5) will buzz by earth on April 1st, and assured the scientific community that it wasn’t an April Fools’ Day joke.
NASA did say, however, that the asteroid would make impact with earth, before adding “psych!”
Space.com reports that asteroid 2012 EG5 will fly by earth early tomorrow morning. The asteroid, which is about 150 feet wide, will come within 143,000 miles of earth and has no chance of making impact.
NASA wrote on Twitter:
“Asteroid 2012 EG5 will safely pass Earth on April 1.”
This will be the third relatively small asteroid to buzz by Earth in the last week, according to Space.com. Asteroid 2012 FP35 came within 96,000 miles and Asteroid 2012 FS35 came within 36,000 miles of earth. Those two asteroids came very close to earth but NASA said that even if they were aimed directly at the earth they were both too small and would not have survived the trip through earth’s atmosphere.
MSNBC reports that another space rock, asteroid 2012 FA57, will fly by Earth on April 4.