The space stone flew at a distance of 18,500 kilometers from the planet. A small asteroid flew incredibly close to Earth on the morning of May 14. At the same time, astronomers discovered it just two days earlier, according to Space.com.
The asteroid 2024 JN16 has a width of roughly four meters, making it comparable in size to a car. The publication notes that it did not collide with the Earth but flew extremely close to it, at a distance of 18,500 kilometers.
Also read
NASAโs 46-year-old Voyager-1 is responding again
The space stone belongs to the Apollo group, the orbits of asteroids that cross the orbit of our planet. The asteroid in this group was the famous Chelyabinsk meteorite, which fell in the Russian city in 2013.
During its current approach to Earth, 2024 JN16 passed within the lunar orbit. The distance from the space rock to the planet was half the height at which satellites rotate in geostationary orbit (35,785 kilometers).
Also read
NASA contracts with three companies in the USA to build spacecraft to send astronauts to the moon
Earlier, scientists said that the asteroid that exploded over Berlin in early 2024 turned out to be a near-Earth space rock, the fastest rotating object known at the moment.
Also read
Scientists have discovered a strange planet that glows red. It melts from the middle
