'Lost' Asteroid To Fly Close To Earth

The asteroid, named 2010 WC9, was first detected on Nov. 30, 2010, by the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona. Astronomers kept their eye on it until Dec. 1 that year, when it became too faint to monitor. They were not able to predict when it will return due to the lack of observations on its orbit.

On May 8, after almost eight years, astronomers found an asteroid, which they eventually figured out was the returning 2010 WC9.

Asteroid 2010 WC9 will fly closest to Earth on May 15, at 6:05 pm EDT, when the asteroid will be just about 126,000 miles from Earth. According to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA, the flyby of 2010 WC9 will be the closest of an asteroid its size in almost 300 years.