Asteroid 2012 DA14 at 2:25 p.m was 17,200 miles from Earth

Okay we have an meteorite explode over Russia in a town called Chelyabinsk on Friday injuring almost 1000 surprised residence of this region of Russia. Who new.  Following this event we were told that 130,000 ton Astroid narrowly missed the earth at the same time.

If the Chelyabinsk meteorite had not come crashing down on Russia would we have been told about this huge Asteroid 2012 DA14 at 2:25 p.m. Washington time was within 17,200 miles (27,350 kilometers) of Earth over Indonesia.

The two hulking rocks hurtling toward Earth today seem to have caught Congress' attention: Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith, a Republican from Texas, is calling for a Congressional hearing on what we can do to protect our planet from asteroids.

Asteroids – Overview
Asteroids are small, airless rocky worlds revolving around the sun that are too small to be called planets. They are also known as planetoids or minor planets. In total, the mass of all the asteroids is less than that of Earth's moon. But despite their size, asteroids can be dangerous. Many have hit Earth in the past, and more will crash into our planet in the future. That's one reason scientists study asteroids and are eager to learn more about their numbers, orbits and physical characteristics. If an asteroid is headed our way, we want to know that.

Most asteroids lie in a vast ring between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. This main belt holds more than 200 asteroids larger than 60 miles (100 kilometers) in diameter. Scientists estimate the asteroid belt also contains more than 750,000 asteroids larger than three-fifths of a mile (1 kilometer) in diameter and millions of smaller ones. Not everything in the main belt is an asteroid — for instance, comets have recently been discovered there, and Ceres, once thought of only as an asteroid, is now also considered a dwarf planet.

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