Huge asteroid flies past Earth
An asteroid that measures nearly 2.7km (1.7 miles) across has flown past the Earth.
The space rock, which is called 1998 QE2, is so large that it is orbited by its own moon.
It made its closest approach to our planet at 20:59 GMT (21:59 BST), but scientists had said there would be no chance it would hit.
Instead it kept a safe distance - at closest, about 5,800,000 km.
That is about 200 times more distant than the asteroid "near-miss" that occurred in February - but Friday's passing space rock is more than 50,000 times larger.
Prof Alan Fitzsimmons, an astronomer at Queen's University Belfast, said: "It's a big one. And there are very few of these objects known - there are probably only about 600 or so of this size or larger in near-Earth space.
Researchers are becoming increasingly interested in potential hazards in space.
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