Asteroid Nearly Hit Us?And Nobody Noticed
One of the largest asteroids known to have made a close approach to Earth flew past about 300,000 miles away on March 8, but nobody noticed it until four days later. When the object, which has been named 2002 EM7, passed closest to the Earth, it was too close to the Sun to be visible. A telescope operated by the Lincoln Laboratory at M.I.T. first recorded the new asteroid on March 12, as it moved away from the Earth and more of its bright side came into view.
Asteroids approaching from a blind spot cannot be seen by astronomers. If an object passed through this zone on a collision course with Earth, it would not be identified until it was too late for any intervention.
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