--- title: Large Asteroid Passes Earth and Avoids Collision description: Asteroid 2013 TX68 is expected to fly by Earth 3 more times. canonical: https://time.com/4250978/asteroid-passes-earth/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-08T16:13:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:00:17.978Z article:section: Science og:title: 100-Foot Asteroid Flies by Earth Without Colliding og:description: Asteroid 2013 TX68 is expected to fly by Earth 3 more times og:url: https://time.com/4250978/asteroid-passes-earth/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta582046bb39f1d66/69888a1b524fc01f0bdf7152/160308-asteroid-2013-tx68-mdl-920a_a322014be5618de991d752afe1b67db5-nbcnews-ux-2880-1000.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 160308-asteroid-2013-tx68-mdl-920a_a322014be5618de991d752afe1b67db5.nbcnews-ux-2880-1000 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 100-Foot Asteroid Flies by Earth Without Colliding twitter:description: Asteroid 2013 TX68 is expected to fly by Earth 3 more times twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta582046bb39f1d66/69888a1b524fc01f0bdf7152/160308-asteroid-2013-tx68-mdl-920a_a322014be5618de991d752afe1b67db5-nbcnews-ux-2880-1000.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 100-Foot Asteroid Flies by Earth Without Colliding by [Elisa Fieldstadt / NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## Elisa Fieldstadt / NBC News Mar 8, 2016 4:13 PM CUT  This graphic depicts the orbit of asteroid 2013 TX68. This graphic depicts the orbit of asteroid 2013 TX68.NASA/JPL-Caltech by [Elisa Fieldstadt / NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## Elisa Fieldstadt / NBC News Mar 8, 2016 4:13 PM CUT Whew! We can all breathe a sigh of relief. A 100-foot wide asteroid whizzed by the Earth on Monday night and (obviously) avoided a collision with our fair planet. Asteroid 2013 TX68 made its closest approach to Earth at about 7 p.m. ET Monday, according to Laurie Cantillo, a spokeswoman for NASA. NASA originally said the yacht-sized asteroid would fly by on March 5, but additional data allowed NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies Propulsion Laboratory (CNEOS) to “get a better handle on its orbital path” and predict that it would pass on March 8.  NASA was also able to determine last month that… [_Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/100-foot-wide-asteroid-tx68-safely-flies-earth-n533871?cid=par-time%5F20160308 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4250978/asteroid-passes-earth/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4250978/asteroid-passes-earth/"},"headline":"100-Foot Asteroid Flies by Earth Without Colliding","datePublished":"2016-03-08T16:13:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:00:17.978Z","description":"Asteroid 2013 TX68 is expected to fly by Earth 3 more times","url":"https://time.com/4250978/asteroid-passes-earth/","keywords":["Space","asteroid"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta582046bb39f1d66/69888a1b524fc01f0bdf7152/160308-asteroid-2013-tx68-mdl-920a_a322014be5618de991d752afe1b67db5-nbcnews-ux-2880-1000.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Elisa Fieldstadt / NBC News"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta582046bb39f1d66/69888a1b524fc01f0bdf7152/160308-asteroid-2013-tx68-mdl-920a_a322014be5618de991d752afe1b67db5-nbcnews-ux-2880-1000.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"160308-asteroid-2013-tx68-mdl-920a_a322014be5618de991d752afe1b67db5.nbcnews-ux-2880-1000","caption":"This graphic depicts the orbit of asteroid 2013 TX68.","creditText":"NASA/JPL-Caltech","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4250978/asteroid-passes-earth/","name":"100-Foot Asteroid Flies by Earth Without Colliding"}}]}] ```