Asteroid the size of a house zooms past Earth at 42,000 km
An asteroid estimated to be 45-100 feet wide flew past Earth, making its closest approach at 42,000 km over Antarctica. The asteroid '2012 TC4' flew little over one-tenth the Earth-Moon distance and above the orbital altitude of communications satellites. The flyby was used by NASA to test its asteroid detection and tracking network, to prepare for a real asteroid-impact threat.