Pasedena, California - A newly discovered small asteroid has harmlessly zipped close to Earth - just as scientists expected.
The 16-foot (4.88-meter)-long space rock, discovered Monday, passed by early Tuesday at a distance of 8,950 miles (14,403 kilometres) from the Earth's surface.
Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which tracks such flybys, said the asteroid - dubbed 2012 KT42 - was the sixth closest asteroid approach.
It was the second asteroid encounter this week. On Monday, another asteroid, measuring 69 feet (21 meters) across, flew by at a distance of 32,000 miles (51,497 kilometres). - Sapa-AP