The new year brings with it new asteroid threats,

[00:00.14] The new year brings with it new asteroid threats,

[00:03.13] with NASA warning of two close cosmic

[00:05.64] flybys in a single day following a busy

[00:08.40] festive period of Near Earth Object

[00:11.63] (NEO) approaches to our planet.

[00:14.38] The first NEO to buzz the Earth today

[00:17.40] is identified as 2020 AQ1 – and was

[00:20.40] only first spotted on January 11.

[00:23.15] Happily, the 755ft-diameter space

[00:28.65] rock screamed safely by us at roughly

[00:31.14] 2:54am EST, passing a mere 0.026 AU

[00:37.39] from Earth – 2.5 million miles from

[00:39.64] the planet’s core – at a

[00:41.63] speed of 61,500 miles per hour.

[00:44.89] The asteroid will head out into the Milky Way,

[00:48.64] but it is expected to make another

[00:51.15] loop around and come back this way on

[00:53.64] August 23, 2104. Were an object of

[00:58.39] that size and velocity to hit the Earth,

[01:01.65] it could level an entire city in seconds.