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Asteroid trackers from the US space agency NASA confirmed key details on their Earth Close Approaches site.
NASA announced that Asteroid C sped past Earth 58,500 miles (94,000 km) away at 6.49am BST.
And while this may seem like an enormous distance, it represents only a quarter of the way between Earth and the Moon, which is 239,000 miles (385,000 km).
Then, just 14 hours later, the smaller asteroid 2020 RD4 passed at a similarly close distance.
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Dr. Gianluca Masi, astronomer of the Virtual Telescope Project managed to capture both asteroids as they passed by the planet with remarkable clarity.
He said in an email: “Asteroid 2020 RD4 will arrive safely at approximately
[a quarter] of the lunar mean distance from us.“Interestingly, another ‘new’ asteroid, 2020 RF3, came a little closer a couple of hours ago and I was able to capture it.”
Explaining why NASA is investing so much in planetary defense, the space agency writes: “What would we do if a NEO were found on a collision course with Earth?
“Could we deflect the asteroid to avoid impact? In collaboration with Aerospace Corp, the Center for Near Earth Object Studies has developed a NEO Deflection application, which examines the kinetic impactor deflection technique for a series of hypothetical striking asteroids. “
The largest asteroid is called Vesta and is estimated to be a whopping 329 miles (530 km) wide.
Currently, NASA cannot detect space rocks smaller than 10 meters (33 feet) in diameter.
Fortunately, Earth’s thick atmosphere protects the planet’s space rocks of this size, as they would safely burn before impact.
However, an asteroid the size of Vesta would do apocalyptic damage to Earth, should one crash.
The good news is that there are no known asteroids anywhere near this scale and it is expected to crash into Earth anytime soon.
NASA said in a statement: “Vesta is the second most massive body in the main asteroid belt, accounting for almost nine percent of the total mass of all asteroids.
“Only the dwarf planet Ceres is more massive in that region of rocky debris between Mars and Jupiter.”
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