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This illustration represents an asteroid, but not the one that was crushed by Earth on August 16.
NASA / JPL-CalTech
We have acquired good enough to spot disturbing asteroids and follow their paths. But sometimes the little ones sneak around, like asteroid 2020 HQ did on Sunday.
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) NEO coordination center, which monitors near-Earth objects, called the 2020 HQ “the closest asteroid ever to pass near our planet without touching it” in a press release Tuesday.
The asteroid huddled on Earth on August 16, the same day it was first spotted by the Zwicky Transient Facility, an astronomical study that searches for this stuff.
A few days ago, @ztfsurvey discovered the closest asteroid of all time to pass Earth and not touch: 2020 HQ
Two observatories supported by ESA #PlanetaryDefence Office followed, determining that the small object, a few meters in diameter, had passed within 3000 km of Earth pic.twitter.com/PchiVjDamL
– ESA operations (@esaoperations) Aug 18, 2020
Two observatories that work with the ESA Planetary Defense Office collected tracking data.
We now know that the asteroid missed Earth by only 3,000 kilometers. Compare that to especially near the flyby of the asteroid 2020 JJ in May. JJ came within 7,000 kilometers of Earth.
A visualization of 2020 HQ’s trajectory shows it sneaking past our planet.
This visualization follows the trajectory of asteroid 2020 HQ as it passes through Earth.
ESA NEO Coordination Center
ESA said the asteroid was small, measuring just a few meters in diameter. The fact that scientists have spotted it shows that our ability to locate and track objects close to Earth is increasingly sophisticated.
The asteroid’s delicate size means it wasn’t a serious threat, even though it had veered into the atmosphere. “If it had hit Earth, it would not have caused any significant damage to the ground,” ESA said.
You can now breathe a sigh of relief.
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