NASA says newly discovered small asteroid will harmlessly zip past Earth on Thursday

Small asteroid to zip near Earth on Thursday

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA says a newly discovered asteroid will whiz harmlessly past Earth on Thursday.

The asteroid dubbed 2010 GA6 will safely fly by the planet shortly after 4 p.m. PDT.

At the time of its closest pass, the 71-foot-wide space rock will be 223,000 miles away from Earth. That’s about 16,000 miles closer than the moon.

NASA routinely tracks asteroids and comets that make close approaches to Earth. In January, another small asteroid made an even closer approach to Earth, passing within 76,000 miles.