Asteroid 2004 BL86 set for close encounter with Earth in January
An asteroid a third of a mile across will pass close by Earth on 26 January.
Codenamed 2004 BL86, the asteroid is expected to reach a point about 745,000 miles from our planet, or three times the distance to the moon.
Although easily far enough away to be safe, the fly-by counts as a narrow encounter in astronomical terms.
It will be the closest any asteroid comes to Earth until the predicted fly-past of another rock, 1999 AN10, on 7 August 2027.
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