An asteroid the size of a city bus had a close call with earth on June 27th. The flyby was so close that it came nearer to us than some satellites are. LiveScience.com, Tariq Malik reports that the arriving space rock came closest to earth just after 1 pm Eastern Time, when it came within 7,500 miles of hitting us. Astronomers saw it coming on June 22, but didn’t feel the need to warn us because they were certain it wouldn’t impact.
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Astrobiologist Richard B. Hoover has discovered evidence of microfossils that resemble bacteria in fresh (so they couldn’t have become contaminated later) slices of the interior surfaces of 3 carbon-filled meteorites. After looking at them under an electron microscope, he has determined that they resemble bacteria found on Earth. His conclusion? These are not Earthly contaminants but are the fossilized remains of living organisms which lived in these meteors, which are rocks that impacted Earth from space. The incredible implication of this discovery is that life is EVERYWHERE, and that life on Earth may have come from other planets.read more

Sometimes asteroids and meteors can come mighty close. A 14-year-old German boy survived a direct hit by a meteorite after it fell to earth at 30,000 mph. Gerrit Blank was on his way to school when he saw "ball of light" heading straight towards him from the sky. The tiny, red hot piece of rock hit his hand before bouncing off and creating a crater foot wide in the ground in front of him.
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