The asteroid, dubbed 2021 UA1, is the closest space rock to Earth. The asteroid was seen on October 24, 2021, passing over Antarctica within 3,000 kilometers.
“That distance is closer than some of the satellites currently orbiting the earth,” CNET reported.
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Scientists were not aware of the object because it was approaching the daytime side of Earth from the sun, so the relatively dim and small asteroid was not detected until about 4 hours after passing at its closest point, according to CNET.
Luckily, at only about two meters in diameter, the UA1 is too small to pose a threat. Even if they hit Earth, most of the asteroid would burn up in the atmosphere before it could hit the ground.
According to NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), comets and asteroid orbiting in our cosmic environment, approaching Earth within a distance of 1.3 astronomical units of about 194.5 million kilometers is known as a near-Earth object or NEO.
NASA uses telescopes on the ground and in space to find and monitor NEOs; to track its orbit and identify its size, shape, and composition.
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