Article Posted on : - Sep 08, 2010

PASADENA (BNS): Two asteroids, with different diameters and separate orbits, will pass near the Earth on Wednesday within a gap of few hours, according to NASA.

Near-Earth asteroid 2010 RX30, estimated to be 32 to 65 feet in size, will pass within 0.6 lunar distances of Earth (about 248,000 kilometers) at 0951 hours GMT on Wednesday.

The second such objects, 2010 RF12, estimated to be 20 to 46 feet in size, will pass within 0.2 lunar distances (about 79,000 kilometers) some hours later at 2112 hours GMT, the space agency said.

The celestial objects can be viewed with moderate-sized amateur telescopes when they approach our planet, NASA said, adding that neither of these objects has a chance of hitting Earth.

The asteroids were spotted by the Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona on September 5 during a routine monitoring of the skies.