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JEMC said:
Lafiel said:
Player2 said:

It's very likely that the fragment separated recently due to the heat of being near the sun.

this is an asteroid, not a comet - by the way this asteroid is known to roughly share the same orbit as the earth, it's been as close as it's to the sun now for at least millions of years

If it's a known asteroid, why is it called 2012 DA14? I thought the 2012 part was in reference to the year it was discovered.

Truly amazing view, spectacular but scary. Glad that there's only minor injuries (for now).

Yes, it has been discovered last year (22nd of feb), when it passed the earth in a distance that is ~7 times the distance earth-moon.