Huge 2021 EQ3 asteroid flew past Earth safely

A particularly large asteroid passed particularly close by Earth on March 15. The flyby was completely safe and posed no risk to anything or anyone on Earth, nor to any of our satellites. But asteroid 2021 EQ3 has moved closer to Earth as our only natural satellite.

Surveys from the sky and other telescopes spot a space rock passing closer than the moon every few days, on average. Most of these asteroids are only a few feet in diameter, which probably doesn’t make them bigger than a bus.

However, asteroid 2021 EQ3 had an estimated diameter of between 17 and 38 meters (55 to 124 feet). It is about the same size as the meteoroid which slammed into the atmosphere over Russia in 2013, creating a shock wave that blew up thousands of windows in the city of Chelyabinsk below, injuring hundreds of people.

2021 EQ3 passed closest to us at around 9.45pm PT, a distance of around 173,000 miles (278,000 kilometers) – or 72% of the distance between Earth and the Moon.

This makes 2021 EQ3 the second largest object to come close to the moon in 2021.

It’s also different from 2001 FO32, who is an absolute monster with a diameter of about a mile. This asteroid passed on March 21, but at a distance five times farther than the moon.

To follow CNET’s 2021 Space Calendar to stay up to date with all the latest space news this year. You can even add it to your own Google Calendar.

Clarification, March 22 at 5:44 p.m. PT: The timestamp from an earlier version of this story suggested this asteroid would drop by a week later than it did. It flew over Earth safely on March 15. Discover here the most recent asteroid, 2001 FO32.