2 asteroids fly near Earth

One transport truck-sized asteroid passed the Earth Wednesday morning and another will soar by in the afternoon, with both far closer to the planet than the moon.

There is no danger of the Earth being hit and both should be visible with moderate-sized amateur telescopes, NASA reported.

The first asteroid, estimated to be 10 to 20 metres in diameter, passed within 248,000 kilometres of Earth at 5:51 a.m. ET.

The second will come within just 79,000 kilometres of the planet just a fifth of the distance between the Earth and the moon at 5:12 p.m. ET. That asteroid is slightly smaller, with a diameter of six to 14 metres.

The two asteroids were discovered on Sunday by the Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Ariz. NASA considers them to be small compared to other asteroids.

The moon is 384,400 kilometres from Earth.