Travelling closer to the earth than numerous satellites and any other asteroids of the same size, Asteroid 2012 DA14 safely passed by the earth on February 15 without any point of contact.
Despite, the early and accurate prediction of NASA scientists regarding the lack of threat that 2012 DA14 posted, the event still served to reinforce the potential vulnerability that earth is to foreign space objects. As quoted in The Guardian, “An impact would have resulted in immense damage given its 143,000-ton heft, releasing the energy equivalent of 2.4 million tons of TNT and wiping out 750 square miles (1,942 square kilometres).”
All thoughts of humanity’s doom aside, NASA to capture a collage of radar generated images of the asteroid as it passed by. The collage can be found here.
