Asteroid flies by

Pasadena - A newly discovered small asteroid has harmlessly zipped close to Earth – just as scientists expected.

The 4.88m-long space rock passed by early on Tuesday at a distance of 14 403km from the Earth’s surface.

Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which tracks such fly-bys, said the asteroid – dubbed 2012 KT42 – was the sixth closest asteroid approach.

It was the second asteroid encounter this week. - Sapa-AP