A fitting spot asteroid about the size of a car flew harmlessly past the earth this morning (April 12).
Astronomers have calculated the asteroid, called 2021 GW4, about 4 feet (four meters) wide – far too small to survive a journey through Earth’s atmosphere if it were on course to collide with our planet, according to NASA.
But at its nearest, about 09:00 EDT (1300 GMT), the asteroid was about 26,200 kilometers from Earth – less than a tenth of the distance between the Earth and the moon, and very close as far as the asteroid approaches. The average distance between the Earth and the moon is about 388400 km.
Video: Take a look at the dramatic increase in near-Earth asteroids found by NASA
Today’s visit is as close as the asteroid will come for the next century, according to early NASA calculations on the orbit of the object, a loop of almost two years around the sun.
2021 GW4 was first introduced on April 8 by astronomers in Mt. Lemmon Survey, part of a powerful asteroid discovery project called Catalina Sky Survey, which has identified more than 500 asteroids this year, according to NASA Center for Near Earth Object Studies.
To date, NASA has identified more than 25,500 near-Earth asteroids, most of which are too small to pose any threat to Earth. Their discoveries are merely bonuses, as scientists are carefully searching for larger spaces.
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