Asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass very close to Earth in 2013

"Asteroid 2012 DA14 is a little guy, compared to some asteroids, although its size has not been pinned down precisely. It is thought to be only about 150 feet (46 meters) across. Still, if a space object 150 feet wide struck our planet, it would have the impact of a thermonuclear bomb.

What’s perhaps scarier is that – if indeed 2012 DA14 had been on course to hit us – we would not have had enough time to build a spacecraft capable of colliding with the asteroid to destroy it or knock it off course. According to Daniel Honan, writing for Big Think on March 7, 2012, the project of building a spacecraft to bump an asteroid off course would require at least two years.

I asked astronomer Donald Yeomans, who among other things is manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, about the 2020 encounter with asteroid 2012 DA14. He said that a precise prediction for 2012 DA14′s closest approach in 2020 will be determined after the February, 2013 close approach to Earth, adding:

… these large orbit uncertainties do allow a remote possibility of an impact in 2020 – approximately one chance in 83,000 – with additional remote possibilities beyond 2020. However, by far the most likely scenario is that additional observations, especially in 2013, will allow a dramatic reduction in the orbit uncertainties and the complete elimination of the 2020 impact possibility. "

[link to earthsky.org]