By Patricia Dougan
Kiwi astronomers (click here) got a rare chance to witness an asteroid travel across the sky above New Zealand this morning.
The whale-sized asteroid, which was only discovered around a week ago, was nicknamed Pitbull because of its small size but potentially threatening path, as it flew within 40,000km of Earth.
Officially named 2014 RC, the celestial object was closer than weather satellites,
Stardome Observatory astronomer Grant Christie said.
When it was first discovered, on August 29, it was initially thought it would directly hit Earth, he said.
Stardome staff tracked the asteroid from around 7pm on Sunday to after 3am on Monday, making observations and snapping images....
