Scientists have confirmed that this asteroid will not strike Earth or cause any damage as it passes our planet during its closest approach.

The big rock is similar in size to the meteor that streaked into the atmosphere and exploded over the Ural Mountains in central Russia on Feb.15. The asteroid is expected to be 10 to 17 meters wide.

The Russian meteor was 17 meters wide, with a mass of 10,000 tons, before it entered Earth's atmosphere. More than a thousand people were injured as the sonic boom caused by the explosion brought roofs down and shook buildings in the Ural region.

The newly found asteroid, named 2013 EC, traces a 246,000 miles journey to Earth, which is a little closer than the moon’s distance from Earth, at a speed of 20.20 km/second. The distance to moon’s orbit from the Earth differs between 363,104 to 406,696 kilometers (225,622 and 252,088 miles).

Gianluca Masi from the  Virtual Telescope Project recorded a live stream of 2013 when it was about twice the distance of the moon.

“That we are finding all these asteroids recently does not mean that we are being visited by more asteroids,” Masi said during the webcast, “just that our ability to detect them has gotten so much better. Our technology has improved a lot over the past decades.”

http://www.ibtimes.com/new-asteroid-2013-ec-s...it-1109921