An asteroid will pass by the Earth today, and will briefly be closer to us than The Moon. Flybys of this nature happen frequently, but with newer technology, it gives more opportunity to talk about and study our tiny neighbors.
What could they do to us? Must they hit the Earth to have some kind of impact? Or do they have some other, more subtle ways of affecting our planet? No, not really. Not unless they are very, very big. Everything with mass has gravity, but this is a piece of rock only about 400 meters in diameter, and will be about 200,000 miles away at the closest. A normal sized mountain is much bigger and closer than that, and its gravity is barely felt. It's unlikely that this will amount to anything at all.
Still, it's an excuse to go outside and stargaze, if you're lucky enough to have a strong enough telescope.
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