Two small asteroids - 2018 CC and 2018 CB - to pass very close by Earth

New Delhi : The astronauts have spotted two asteroids which will be passing by Earth within one lunar distance this week.

The two asteroids have been spotted by NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) near Tucson, Arizona

They have been named as 2018 CC and 2018 CB, the former passed by Earth on Tuesday (February 6) at a distance of about 114,000 miles (184,000 kilometers), while the latter will pass closely by Earth on Friday (February 9), at around 2:30 p.m, at a distance of about 39,000 miles (64,000 kilometers), which is less than one-fifth the distance of Earth to the Moon).

Both the asteroids were discovered by CSS on February 4.

"Although 2018 CB is quite small, it might well be larger than the asteroid that entered the atmosphere over Chelyabinsk, Russia, almost exactly five years ago, in 2013," said Paul Chodas, manager of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. 

"Asteroids of this size do not often approach this close to our planet -- maybe only once or twice a year."