Although 2018 CB could be up to twice the size of that one, this asteroid will be tens of thousands of miles from earth. The asteroid was given the catchy name 2018 CB when it was discovered at the Catalina Sky Survey, a series of Nasa-funded telescopes in Tuscon, Arizon, last Sunday. Thankfully, the giant space rock will pass at a distance of about 39,000 miles - less than one-fifth the distance of Earth to the Moon - meaning it is very unlikely to be hazardous. But Live Science added that the asteroid’s size was only a small part of what made it interesting to many observers, as astronomers were only able to spot 2018 CB on Sunday, February 4, only five days before its very close flyby. As noted by NASA Center for Near-Earth Object Studies manager Paul Chodas, the asteroid was relatively small in size, but was possibly larger than the meteor that crashed into the atmosphere over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013, and also one of the few objects that are generally expected to make such a close approach to Earth. "Asteroids of this size do not often approach this close to our planet — maybe only once or twice a year," said Paul Chodas, manager of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, in a statement from the agency.
As predicted, asteroid 2018 CB, estimated to be between 15 and 40 metres (50–130 feet) in diameter, makes a fly-by past Earth at a distance of around 64,500 km (40,100 mi). This is the second asteroid to make a fly-by this week.