ST. PETERSBURG. Oct 12 (Interfax) - An asteroid, which flew between the Earth and the Moon on Friday morning, did not pose any threat to the planet, Sergei Smirnov, senior researcher at the Pulkovo Observatory outside St. Petersburg, told Interfax.
"This object in particular did not pose any threat to the Earth because it flew past it at a distance of approximately 90,000 kilometers. This is one-quarter of the distance between our planet and the moon. Given such a distance, the Earth's gravitational field is more likely to impact an asteroid's flight path," he said.
Space objects tend to come closer to the Earth if they pass within the Moon's distance, he said.
"Situations where objects fly past the Earth at several dozen lunar distances [a measurement of the distance from the Earth to the Moon] are reported far more frequently," he said.
Modern space monitoring technologies and advanced observatory equipment allow scientists to watch scores of space objects flying past the Earth, Smirnov said.
"It helps us fill our databases, clarify the number of such objects and their flight trajectories. The more objects we observe, the greater the chance of making new scientific discoveries," he said.
News reports say that an asteroid about 30 meters in diameter passed between the Earth and the Moon at around 9:30 a.m. Moscow time on Friday.