一身冷汗！“危险”小行星周五和地球插肩而过

An asteroid up to 40m in size and only discovered five days ago, is due to skim past the Earth on Friday.

一个直径40米的小行星，五天前才被发现，将于周五在地球上滑过。

Asteroid 2018 CB will pass by at just less than one-fifth the distance between the Earth and the Moon.

该小行星名为2018 CB，将以不到地球和月球间距五分之一的距离和地球擦肩而过。

It was first spotted by the Catalina Sky Survey in Tucson, Arizona, a Nasa-funded project to record potentially hazardous asteroids.

它是由亚利桑那州图森市的卡塔利娜天空调查所首次发现的，这是一个美国国家航空航天局资助的记录有潜在危险的小行星的项目。

However, while the pass is relatively close in astronomical terms, it’s nowhere near enough to be a threat.

然而，尽管该行星在天文学上与地球相对接近，但远远不足以构成威胁。

The 15-40m space rock is set to make its closest approach to Earth at 22:27 GMT.

格林威治标准时间22:27，这颗15-40米的太空岩石将离地球最近。

"Although 2018 CB is quite small, it might well be larger than the asteroid that entered the atmosphere over Chelyabinsk, Russia, almost exactly five years ago, in 2013," said Paul Chodas, manager of Nasa’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies.

美国国家航空航天局近地物体研究中心经理保罗·乔达斯表示：“尽管2018 CB体积很小，但它可能比刚好五年前的2013年在俄罗斯车里雅宾斯克上方进入大气层的小行星还要大。”

"Asteroids of this size do not often approach this close to our planet - maybe only once or twice a year."

“这种大小的小行星往往不会靠近我们的星球 - 也许每年只有一两次。”

CB 2018 will buzz us at a distance of 69,700km (43,300 miles), which is roughly twice as far as the belt of satellites which orbit Earth in geostationary orbit.

CB 2018将在69,700公里（4300英里）的距离滑行而过，这大约是在地球静止轨道上绕地球轨道运行的卫星离地球距离的两倍。

Another small asteroid passed within lunar distance this week. Known as 2018 CC, the object made its closest approach to Earth on 6 February at a distance of about 184,000km (114,000 miles).

本周另一个小型小行星在月球距离内经过。被称为2018 CC的该物体于2月6日在距离大约184,000公里（114,000英里）处达到与地球最近距离。