Asteroid will zoom past Earth in FOURTH close shave of 2017

Asteroid will zoom past Earth in FOURTH close shave of 2017:

2017 BS32  is expected to hurtle past at around 8.30pm Thursday.

The space rock – estimated to be around 82ft in size – belongs to the Aten group of asteroids.

Several of the thousands of Atens have been classed as “potentially hazardous” because of their proximity to Earth.

It was only spotted on Monday by astronomers and is the fourth Near-Earth Asteroid to pass this year, according to eagle-eyed asteroid watchers.

But fear not, these close encounters are more common than you might think and researchers at Nasa are keeping tabs on any strays at its Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Tonight’s close shave will be followed by another giant comet which will approach later this month.

The 2016 WF9, was detected by Nasa in late November and is something of a mystery because of its strange behavior.

At some point we will not be lucky.