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The Earth will not be destroyed when an asteroid whizzes past on Friday

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Michel Martin.

Good news for Friday. The Earth will not be destroyed tonight when an asteroid whizzes past. The space rock named 2008 OS7 is believed to be about the size of the Empire State Building. Kind of big, but it's supposed to pass within 1.7 million miles of Earth. For comparison, the moon is about 240,000 miles away, so kind of far. According to the AP, the flyby is one of several this weekend, all smaller and far away. So go ahead. Go outside. Be safe. Look up.

It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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