Asteroid the dimensions of three million elephants zooms previous Earth

Earth were given a rather shut shave this morning (Dec. 4), as a large house rock zipped by means of simply 1.4 million miles (2.2 million kilometers) away.The asteroid, known as 2020 XR, made its closest manner these days at roughly 12:26 a.m. EST (0526 GMT), passing just below six instances the gap between Earth and the moon. The flyby got here at the fourth anniversary of 2020 XR’s discovery,.Asteroid 2020 XR is someplace between 1,000 and a couple of,300 ft (300 and 700 meters) huge, in step with the Ecu Area Company (ESA). At more or less the dimensions of a big stadium — or a number of million elephants, in step with ChatGPT — 2020 XR is greater than able to destroying one in all our Earth towns, will have to the asteroid ever occur to tragically intersect with one. And, for a short time after the asteroid’s 2020 discovery, astronomers feared the gap rock had an opportunity of doing simply that.Asteroid 2020 XR safely flew by means of Earth on Dec. 4, 2024, at 12:26 a.m. EST (0526 GMT). (Symbol credit score: The Digital Telescope Undertaking)The near-Earth object (NEO) used to be found out the usage of the Pan-STARRS 2 observatory in Hawaii 4 years in the past. The asteroid’s obvious orbit on the time indicated the potential of an affect with Earth in 2028.On the other hand, reexamination of previous commentary knowledge printed up to now undetected photographs of 2020 XR, permitting astronomers to extra appropriately calculate the asteroid’s trajectory and in the end conclude a zero-percent likelihood of affect with Earth till no less than the yr 2120.Similar: What are asteroids?NASA classifies any asteroids or comets in orbits inside of a equivalent distance from the solar as Earth as NEOs, and the ones higher than 460 ft (140 m) that still fly nearer than 4.6 million miles (7.5 million km) of Earth are deemed doubtlessly hazardous. As of December 2024, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is monitoring greater than 2,400 doubtlessly hazardous asteroids (PHAs), together with 2020 XR.Breaking house information, the newest updates on rocket launches, skywatching occasions and extra!The following shut move by means of asteroid 2020 XR will happen in November 2028, albeit at a extra comfy distance than this yr’s flyby. 4 years from now, 2020 XR will come inside of about 11.3 million miles (18.2 million km) of Earth — way more far away, fortunately, than astronomers’ first 2028 predictions for the gap rock.

Author: OpenAI