This truck-sized asteroid came a bit too close to Earth for our liking

Popular mechanics

• An SUV-sized asteroid called 2020 HQ hovered over Earth on Sunday, less than 1,830 miles from our home planet.

• It’s the nearest flyby never recorded.

• Scientists are working around the clock to track potentially dangerous asteroids as 2020 HQ.

An asteroid the size of a Ford Bronco just swung by Earth in the closest recorded flyby of a celestial object yet. The closing call took place on Sunday, August 16 at 12:08 a.m. EDT, as the asteroid (2020 HQ) just flew 2,830 kilometers over the southern Indian Ocean.

For reference, the distance between Las Vegas and Chicago is almost 1,800 miles. 2020 HQ flew over Earth at a speed of about 8 miles per second, according to NASA.

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Asteroids in the 2020 HQ size range (around 10 to 20 feet wide) are extremely difficult to spot. A student in India first noticed the space rock and alerted researchers to the Zwicky transitional facility at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory in California, according to SyFy wire. Researchers confirmed the asteroid 6 hours after its closest approach as it moved away from Earth.

According to NASA, asteroids of this size pass close to Earth several times a year. A meteoroid called 2011 CQ1 previously held the title of the closest recorded approach, with its 3,400 mile overflight in February 2011. When asteroids glide above Earth, their trajectory is changed by the gravitational pull of our planet. Astronomers were able to witness this change in the orbit of HQ 2020.

“It’s really cool to see a small asteroid come so close, because we can see the Earth’s gravity bending its course dramatically,” said Paul Chodas, director of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS ) at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. in a press declaration. “Our calculations show that this asteroid was rotated about 45 degrees when it rolled over our planet.”

So what would have happened if the asteroid fact hit the Earth? Fortunately, nothing catastrophic. It would likely have burned in Earth’s atmosphere, during a dramatic fireworks display like the rupture of an asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia in 2013. Although most of the 66-foot meteors did Burned on the approach, it still caused damage: Windows shattered as the meteor passed through Earth’s atmosphere, injuring over a thousand people in the area.

The story continues

Don’t lose too much sleep on asteroids like 2020 HQ. Astronomers from institutes like the Near-Earth Object Study Center, the Catalina Sky Inquiry, and the Center for Minor Planets of the International Astronomical Union keep an eye out for potentially dangerous objects that may one day cross Earth.

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