Amazing, one asteroid flew past earth, undetected, until at least two days after the event

News24xx.com - Asteroids flying past earth is nothing new. But what does one say when one flies by super close?

In June, one asteroid flew past earth, undetected, until at least two days after the event which is when the realisation hit scientists.

On June 5, asteroid 2020 LD measuring nearly 100 metres in diameter, travelling at a speed of 60,826 miles per hour, came even closer to the earth than the moon. 

According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the space rock was 0.8 lunar distances away from earth. That means, if the moon is 384, 317 km away from earth, asteroid 2020 LD was 307,454 km away when it flew by.

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It was the biggest asteroid to pass between Earth and the moon this year. It was also the biggest asteroid to come this close to earth since 2011, and according to Earth Sky, one of the biggest ever to have flown by the earth without being detected. 

It was only on June 7 that scientists made this discovery when astronomers in Hawaii first noticed 2020 LD travelling at 60,826 miles per hour (97,890 km/h) relative to earth.

After analysing its orbit, scientists concluded that the asteroid was that close to earth two days earlier.

Another asteroid 'fly-by' that caught our attention was asteroid 1998 OR2. The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico captured a radar image of asteroid 1998 OR2 that passed within 3.9 million miles (6.3 million kilometres) of the earth on April 29.

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At the time team members all wore masks in the facility to contain the spread of coronavirus and what they found interesting about that asteroid was that even it was shaped like a mask!   

'TeamRadar and the NAIC Observatory staff are taking the proper safety measures as we continue observations. This week we have been observing near-earth asteroid 1998 OR2, which looks like it's wearing a mask!’ one of their tweets reads.