Asteroid will pass within orbit of manmade satellites today

While it won't be visible in North America, a space rock similar in size to one that once flattened a forest in Siberia will flash by earth a mere 17,150 miles above the planet's surface.

The asteroid, which is designated 2012 DA14, will make its closest approach to earth at about 11:25 a.m. (PST) today as is passes over the West Pacific nation of Indonesia.

Its trajectory will have it fly under the orbits of many satellites.

Despite the nearness of the flyby, NASA guarantees the 150-foot-in-diameter space rock will miss Earth.

The agency also says DA14 is the largest object it has ever tracked coming this close to our home planet during the time NASA has been tracking "such near earth objects."

The asteroid is traveling at a mind-boggling 4.8 miles per second, or 17,450 mph, according to NASA.

Given the object's small size and dazzling speed, it would be difficult for average observers, even with the help of a reasonably sophisticate amateur telescope, to see DA14, but that doesn't mean it can't be observed.

Starting at 11 a.m. PST, NASA will broadcast a program incorporating real-time animation showing the location of the asteroid relative to Earth, along with live or near real-time views of the asteroid from observatories in Australia, weather permitting.

The program will be broadcast over NASA TV and will be streamed live online at and

While NASA stresses the passing asteroid will have no impact on earth, there are researchers he think the same might not be the case for the passing rock.

According to a release issued Thursday afternoon by the space agency, "Some researchers believe that near-Earth asteroid 2012 DA14 might experience seismic activity when it flies through our planet's gravitational field."

Observatories around the world will be on the lookout for signs of an "asteroid-quake" during the flyby, says the release.

NASA characterizes DA14 as a small near-Earth object. At the same time, agency experts say the asteroid is about the same size as the object that caused the "Tunguska Event."

In June 1908, something — astronomers now believe it was an asteroid — exploded in the atmosphere above the Tunguska River in Siberia.

The blast destroyed about 800 square-miles of forest, leveling an estimated 80 million trees, all oriented away from the center of the detonation.

While herds of reindeer reportedly died in the explosion, there is no evidence any people were killed.

Don Yeomans, manager of the Near-Earth Object Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, estimates a Tunguska-or 2012 DA14-size object enters the Earth's atmosphere every 300 years on average.