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A newly discovered car asteroid just flew the closest to Earth without touching our planet.
On Sunday August 16, the asteroid, originally tagged ZTF0DxQ and now officially known to astronomers as 2020 HQ, plunged above Earth just 2,950 kilometers away. This gives 2020 HQ the title of the closest asteroid flyby ever on record that didn’t end with the disappearance of the space rock.
It is the closest known, non-impacting asteroid, NASA officials told Space.com
Video: See asteroid 2020 HQ orbit around the sun!
Related: Potentially dangerous asteroids (images)
The flyby was not planned and took many by surprise. In fact, the Palomar Observatory only detected the zoomed asteroid about six hours after the object’s closest approach. “The asteroid approached undetected from the direction of the sun,” Paul Chodas, director of NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies, told Business Insider. “We didn’t see it coming.”
Related: Famous asteroid flyovers and close calls (infographic)
“Yesterday’s close approach is [the] closest on record, “Chodas told Business Insider.” If you don’t take into account a few known asteroids that have actually had an impact on our planet. “
The close flyby was also swift, as 2020 HQ plunged close to Earth at a blistering speed of 27,600 mph (44,400 km / h). The object is about the size of a compact car, perhaps about 3 to 6 meters in diameter.
According to the International Astronomical Union Minor Planet Center, 2020 HQ flew over the Pacific Ocean, in the far east of Australia, on its close approach. To explore the Daredevil asteroid on your own, you can check out NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Small Bodies Database Browser. here.
Email Chelsea Gohd at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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