See video: Asteroid as big as three football fields hurtles past Earth

Asteroid 2000 EM26 zoomed past Earth at a speed of 27,000mph.

15:03 18 February 2014

A year after a huge asteroid exploded in Russia that caused injury to more than 1,200 people, another one, this time believed to be the size of a three football fields, hurtled past the Earth on Monday, narrowly missing our planet.

The Slooh Space Camera followed the asteroid’s approach via a live video stream from 9pm on Monday as it hit speeds of 27,000 mph. Pictures were received from an observatory in Dubai.

The asteroid, known as 2000 EM26, measured 270 metres and was projected past Earth at a distance of about 2.1 million miles or 3.4 million km.

Meanwhile, February 15 marks the anniversary of an asteroid explosion that took place in Chelyabinsk, 900 miles east of Moscow, where more than 1,000 people were injured following a massive shock wave that shattered windows and damaged buildings.

The ten-ton meteor that entered the earth’s atmosphere at 33,000mph ripped across the sky above Russia’s Ural Mountains.

Chelyabinsk region officials originally planned on commemorating the important date by giving a piece of the meteorite to each 2014 Winter Olympic athlete who won a medal on Saturday at the Sochi Games. However, it did not push through as International Olympic Committee decided that it could only be done after the Games.