[Video] MIT Researcher Tracks Near-Miss Asteroid

"Each and every close-approaching asteroid gives us a new and exciting opportunity," says Richard Binzel, a professor of planetary sciences at MIT.

According to Nature.com, Binzel led a team that tracked the sixth-closest near-Earth asteroid encounter on May 29. These researchers recently posted video (below) of the asteroid, called 2012 KT42, which they shot using NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii. Estimated to be about seven meters across, 2012 KT42 is traveling at 17 kilometers per second and managed to get about 19,000 kilometers from Earth—or within three Earth radii.

The closest asteroid encounter, in case you're interested, happened Feb. 4, 2011. Want to learn more? Check out 3 Questions: Richard Binzel on near-Earth asteroids from the MIT News Office.