An asteroid the dimensions of a automotive was found the identical day it made a detailed strategy to Earth, coming nearer to the floor than the ring of huge telecommunications satellites in geosynchronous orbit (22,236 miles, or 35,786, kilometers above us).

The Arizona-based Catalina Sky Survey first noticed the house rock on Saturday, simply because it was coming inside about 13,000 miles (21,000 kilometers) of our planet. 

If the asteroid, cataloged as 2022 YO1, have been to make a direct hit on our planet, it might seemingly do little or no harm and dissipate virtually fully within the ambiance. It might generate a heck of a fireball, although. Recall the bolide that exploded over Russia in 2013, blowing out 1000’s of home windows however doing no different harm, was estimated to be about 40 meters throughout, or 10 instances the dimensions of 2022 YO1. 

What’s maybe most notable about 2022 YO1 is it’s the sixth closest that astronomers have seen an asteroid fly by us this yr alone. That’s a sign our surveys are getting higher at recognizing extra of the objects within the near-Earth surroundings. 

In reality, as The Watchers points out, seven of the 50 closest objects ever noticed on report have been seen in 2022. 

This won’t be the final we see of 2022 YO1. Early fashions of its orbital path via the inside photo voltaic system point out it is going to be again for one more cross by Earth in 2024.

While astronomers proceed to catalog and monitor ever extra asteroids and comets, a giant concern for planetary safety stays humanity’s few blind spots. We have comparatively few observatories maintaining watch from the Southern Hemisphere, and we additionally battle to identify some objects that come from the course of the solar. 

The asteroid that exploded over Russia a decade in the past got here from this course and was fully undiscovered till it exploded within the sky. 

NASA hopes to deal with this main hole by launching the NEO Surveyor mission as quickly as June 2028. Until then, eyes up!