An asteroid size of SUV just misses Earth
This NASA/JPL/ZTF/Caltech Optical Observatories handout image obtained on Tuesday shows asteroid 2020 QG which came closer to Earth than any other non-impacting asteroid on record.
An asteroid the size of an SUV passed 2,950 kilometers above Earth, the closest asteroid ever observed passing by our planet, NASA said on Tuesday.
If it had been on a collision course with Earth, the asteroid — named 2020 QG — would likely not have caused any damage, instead disintegrating in the atmosphere, creating a fireball in the sky, or a meteor, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said.
The asteroid, which was about 3 to 6 meters long, passed above the southern Indian Ocean on Sunday at 4:08am GMT.
It was moving at nearly 12.3 kilometers per second, well below the geostationary orbit of about 35,200 kilometers at which most telecommunications satellites fly.
NASA said that similarly sized asteroids pass by Earth at a similar distance a few times per year.
But they’re difficult to record, unless they’re heading directly toward the planet.
