Asteroid 2021 EQ3 will pass closer than the moon.
NASA / JPL-Caltech
A particularly large planet passed close by Earth, especially on March 15th. The flyby was completely safe and did not pose a threat to anything or anyone on Earth or to any of our satellites. But the asteroid 2021 EQ3 came closer to Earth than our lone natural satellite.
Sky surveys and other telescopes detect a space rock passing close to the moon in an average of a few days. Most of these asteroids are only a few meters around, probably not larger than the bus.
Asteroid 2021 EQ3, however, had an estimated diameter between 17 and 38 meters (55 to 124 feet). That makes it the same size as a meteorite Surrounded in the atmosphere above Russia in 2013, Creating a shock wave that blew thousands of windows down in the city of Chelyabinsk, injuring hundreds.
2021 EQ3 at about 9.345 pm PT, which passed close to us at a distance of about 173,000 miles (278,000 kilometers) – it is 72% of the distance of the Moon from the Earth.
This makes 2021 EQ3 the second largest 20-budget approach to the moon in 2021.
It’s also different 2001 FO32, which is a complete monster With a diameter around one mile. That asteroid passed by on March 21, but is five times farther from the moon.
Follow CNET’s 2021 Space Calendar Lender To stay up to date with all the latest space news this year. You can also add it to your own Google Calendar.
Clarification, March 22 at 5:44 p.m. The timestamp on the earlier version of this story indicates that this asteroid will fly a week later than that. It zoomed safely to Earth on March 15th. Read about the latest asteroids, 2001 FO32 here.
