Must be the luck of the Irish! Asteroid narrowly misses smashing into Earth just in time for St Patrick's Day

All near Earth asteroids are monitored by Nasa to predict potential impacts
2017 EG3 was first observed on March 7 by Mt Lemmon Survey observatory
It passed within four lunar distances of the planet at 10.37 GMT today

Published: 13:23 GMT, 17 March 2017 | Updated: 14:23 GMT, 17 March 2017

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The Irish are known for their good fortune and it seems some of it may have rubbed off on Earth.

In a good omen for revellers celebrating the feast of Saint Patrick, an asteroid passed safely within four lunar distances of the planet this morning.

Asteroid 2017 EG3 is expected to have passed closest to the planet at 10.37 GMT today.

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Asteroid 2017 EG3 passed planet Earth at 10.37 GMT today, just in time for St Patrick's Day. It will come within four lunar distances of the planet

2017 EG3

2017 EG3 was first observed by the Mt Lemmon Survey observatory, northeast of Tucson in Arizona, on March 7.

It follows a similar orbit to the NEO 1862 Apollo, a stony space rock just under a mile in diameter which was discovered in 1932.

All asteroids which cross Earth's orbit in a similar trajectory are now named after the original Apollo asteroid.

The number of known Apollo asteroids currently stands at over 8,000.

Almost 1,500 of the Apollo asteroids are large enough and may get close enough to Earth to become potentially hazardous asteroids.

All near Earth asteroids (NEOs) are monitored by Nasa to predict potential impacts.

Any NEOs that are larger than 100 metres in diameter and pass within 4.6 million miles - 0.05 astronomical units - are classed as potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs).

2017 EG3 was first observed by the Mt Lemmon Survey observatory, northeast of Tucson in Arizona, on March 7.

Today it came within four lunar distances (LDs) of the planet, or 0.0112047 AU - just over one million miles away.

The moon orbits at a distance of 0.00257 AU, around 238,000 miles.

It will pass by again on Monday, but will only come within 55 LDs.

Luckily the plucky 2017 EG3 rock is just 23 metres across, and so wouldn't pose much of a threat if it did veer off course towards the planet.

2017 EG3 follows a similar orbit to the NEO 1862 Apollo, a stony space rock just under a mile in diameter which was discovered in 1932.

Its orbit takes it on a two year journey around the sun, passing within 250 million miles of Jupiter along the way.

All asteroids which cross Earth's orbit in a similar trajectory are now named after the original Apollo asteroid.

2017 EG3 follows a similar orbit to the NEO 1862 Apollo, a stony space rock just under a mile in diameter which was discovered in 1932. Its orbit takes it on a two year journey around the sun, passing within 250 million miles of Jupiter along the way

The number of known Apollo asteroids currently stands at over 8,000, by far the largest group of NEOs, with more being discovered all the time.

Almost 1,500 of the Apollo asteroids are large enough and may get close enough to Earth to potentially become PHAs.

None of the PHAs we currently know about are on a collision course for the planet, but some scientists are concerned that this could one day change.

Luckily the plucky 2017 EG3 rock is just 23 metres across, and so wouldn't pose much of a threat if it did veer off course towards the planet (stock image)