A small asteroid the size of a bus or container made a very close pass by Earth on Wednesday night, coming within just 90.000 km, or about 23% of the average Earth-Moon distance.
Remarkably, until a few days ago no astronomers had any idea that the asteroid was approaching. However, the space rock in question, dubbed "2002 NF", passed safely past our planet.
Astronomers discovered the 'sneaky' asteroid on July 4 with the Pan-STARRS telescope system in Hawaii. The asteroid is estimated to be between 5.5 and 12.5 meters long, roughly the length of a bus to a shipping container.
Because of its small size, the asteroid did not meet NASA's criteria to be considered "potentially hazardous" to our planet, as it would have to be at least 140 meters long for such a designation. "2022 NF" makes one orbit around the Sun every six years.
Source: APE-MPA
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