By ALYSSA KLEVEN
MyNorthwest.com

The second of two asteroids scheduled to near the Earth Wednesday passed by at 2:12 p.m.

Dave Ross spoke to Dr. Donald Yeomans about identifying asteroids and what would it take for an asteroid to be a threat to Earth.

According to Yeomans, nearly 50 million asteroids travel near Earth's space and one of those passes by the moon daily.

Yeomans works with three different telescopic facilities, funded by N.A.S.A., to keep a watch for asteroids that are coming near Earth or could possibly be a threat.

Yeomans says that an asteroid hits Earth about every ten years. The shower of sparks created by the impacts of the smaller asteroids is sometimes confused with missile attacks. In those cases, the telescopic facilities main concern is to warn people near the impact zone and make people aware that it is a natural occurrence.

Part of Yeoman's job is to ensure what the threat of a potential asteroid hit would be to earth. "We verify the results," said Yeomans,"and if there is a non-zero chance of an impact, and if there is, we post the results on our website."

It would take an impact from an asteroid approximately 1 kilometer in size to be a threat to life on Earth and Yeoman says that at least ninety percent of those asteroids have been identified and are not in target to hit Earth within the next one hundred years.

The unidentified ten percent of 1 kilometer or larger asteroids that could pose a threat to life on Earth are likely on a long term orbit and not near the earth or sun, so are unseen by Yeomans' telescopic facilities.

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