1-2 Celestial Punch Raises Questions About Space Object Defenses

A blazing meteor streaked across the skies of Russia on Thursday, leaving a large smoke trail in its wake before blowing up over the remote town of Chelyabinsk in the Ural mountains. More than 1,000 people reported injuries, and windows across the region were shattered by a deafening sonic boom.

A meteor seen flying over Russia on Feb. 15 at 3:20:26 UTC impacted Chelyabinsk. Preliminary information is that this object was unrelated to asteroid 2012 DA14, which made a safe pass by Earth today. (Image credit: Google Earth, NASA/JPL-Caltech)

On Friday, a 150-foot-wide asteroid named 2012 DA14 whizzed by the Earth with just over 17,000 miles of separation to spare. That makes it the closest approach ever to the planet for a space rock of that size.

The two celestial events were not connected, NASA said; they approached the Earth from different trajectories. Yet they are just two of several meteors and asteroids that have come close to the Earth in the past few years.

There are between 3,200 and 4,700 potentially hazardous asteroids in our solar system, NASA estimated. This week's sky shows, while fascinating to watch, have spurred discussions about whether the system for detecting potentially dangerous meteors and asteroids is adequate -- and if not, what is being done about it.