You avoided cosmic catastrophe. And all while you were sitting in your couch at home. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration says a small asteroid just whizzed by the earth Wednesday night. The chunk of space rock, called 2013 RZ-53, buzzed the planet at a distance closer than the orbit of the moon. Scientists think RZ-53 is a member of the Apollo family of near-earth asteroids. The meteor that exploded in spectacular fashion over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February is suspected to be part of the same group. NASA says RZ-53 was probably about 10 feet long and would have burned up in the earth atmosphere if it had actually hit. NASA says the Russian meteor that exploded was probably about six times longer.
Updated 9/22/13 @ 9:28 pm
