Last year I did a significant post on a near miss of earth by an asteroid that occurred on March 2, 2009. Today another recently discovered asteroid measuring approximately 71 feet across will pass close to the earth. The asteroid named 2010 GA6 will pass within 223,000 miles of earth and will be 16,000 miles closer to us than the moon. The event will occur approximately at 4:00 pm PST.
This past January another asteroid passed within 76,000 miles of earth as well.
Though it should pass safely the discovery of the number of asteroids passing near the earth is on the rise due to more time, techniques and research being devoted to their discovery.
Referred to NEO's (Near Earth Objects) there are a number of groups and people concerned with this external threat that these objects present. One of the most notable organizations involved in this area is The Association of Space Explorers (ASE) Committee on Near-Earth Objects (NEOs)
The ASE-NEO committee is dedicated to raising awareness of this issue and in efforts to get the international community to protect the Earth from future asteroid impacts.
Another interesting group which I have only become recently aware of through some brief communications with Rusty Schweickart is the B612 Foundation. The goal of the B612 Foundation is to find a method for significantly altering the orbit of an asteroid so that it does not impact the earth. They plan on doing this by 2015.
Interestingly enough Rusty Schweickart and I are planning on getting together sometime in the next moth or two to discuss this very issue. I'll keep you posted as to what occurs and how I become involved more with this issue over the next several months.