Never before have there been documented asteroids that have passed so close to Earth, writes the scientific journal Phys.org.
When the asteroid – named “2020 VT4” – was over the Pacific Ocean, it was only 400 kilometers away, according to the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, which was one of the few who observed it.
– We do not want these to collide with the earth, says department head Pål Brekke at the Norwegian Space Center to Dagbladet.
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Like a house
The asteroid was between 5 and 10 meters in diameter – that is, the size of a house. However, the chance that it would reach the earth’s surface is small.
– They mostly burn up in the earth’s atmosphere. So only small fragments would in the worst case reach, Brekke explains.
The record-breaking passage comes just months after the previous record-breaking asteroid was detected.
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The previous asteroid, named “2020 QG”, was approximately 2950 kilometers away from the Earth’s surface when it passed on 16 August.
– It is very stylish to see a small asteroid pass so close, because you can see that the earth’s gravity drastically changes the asteroid’s trajectory, said director Paul Chodas of CNEOS, which is a NASA center that concentrates on observing objects close to the earth.
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Over 100 messages
Also on 19 November, the earth came into “close contact” with extraterrestrial elements, when a meteor was observed in the night sky in several places in Europe – including over the Czech capital Prague.
Here in Norway, the Norwegian meteorite network received over 100 reports of a flash of light over Eastern Norway.
– Meteors can be seen all year round, but around 17 November the earth passed through the orbit of the comet Tempel-Tuttle, and collided with the remains of the comet’s tail resulting in the meteor swarm Leonidene, says Brekke.
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