An asteroid the size of a … refrigerator cooled from Earth last week, with astronomers unaware of the object’s existence until just a few hours after it was removed.
For the data of our galaxy, the asteroid was close enough to hit our planet. The orbit of the space rock on October 24 was estimated at 3,000 kilometers from Earth, specifically from Antarctica.
In practice, this means that the asteroid was even closer to Earth than some satellites – making it the third closest asteroid to pass through our planet without hitting it, CNET reported.
Scientists were unaware of the object, called Asteroid 2021 UA1, because it approached the Earth’s side during the day from the direction of the sun. So the relatively small visitor stayed in the dark for about 4 hours after passing through his nearest point, according to CNET.
But at just 2 meters in diameter, the asteroid UA1 was too small to pose a threat. Even if it had hit the Earth, most of its rocky body would have burned up in the atmosphere before it could hit the ground, CNET reported.
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