* Astronomy

'Gibraltar-sized' space rock passes Earth

A large asteroid the size of the Rock of Gibraltar has passed safely by Earth.
The object, measured to be almost a kilometre wide, came within five times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
Known as 2014 JO25, the asteroid is the biggest such space rock to skim our world since 2004.
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Asteroid 2014 JO25 in the constellation Canes Venatici reaches magnitude +10.7 at ~21:30 UT, 19h April 2017

The 640 - 1400 metre wide asteroid 2014 JO25 in constellation Ursa Minor will make a close pass (4.6 LD, 0.0118 AU), travelling at 33.56 km/second, to the Earth-Moon system on the 19h April 2017 @ 12:24 UT ±00:01. 

Magnitude: 11.2V

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The Lunar Distance (LD), the distance between Earth and the Moon, equals 384,401 km, (or 0.00256 AU).

Asteroid to Fly Safely Past Earth on April 19

A relatively large near-Earth asteroid discovered nearly three years ago will fly safely past Earth on April 19 at a distance of about 1.8 million kilometers, or about 4.6 times the distance from Earth to the moon. Although there is no possibility for the asteroid to collide with our planet, this will be a very close approach for an asteroid of this size.
The asteroid, known as 2014 JO25, was discovered in May 2014 by astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona -- a project of NASA's NEO Observations Program in collaboration with the University of Arizona. (An NEO is a near-Earth object).
Contemporary measurements by NASA's NEOWISE mission indicate that the asteroid is roughly 2,000 feet (650 meters) in size, and that its surface is about twice as reflective as that of the moon. At this time very little else is known about the object's physical properties, even though its trajectory is well known.
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