Building-sized asteroid safely flew by earth last night
Asteroid 467460 (2006 JF42) passes by the Earth at safe distance of 14 earth-moons from the planet which is 5.7 million km
- Giant asteroid the size of a building flies by earth Monday night.
- Asteroid is officially named 467460 (2006 JF42).
- It was 5.7 million kilometers from our planet.
An asteroid the size of a building passed by our planet on Monday night at a safe distance, reported Space.
The asteroid is officially named467460 (2006 JF42). It passed at a safe distance of 14 earth-moons from the Earth as seen in data provided bythe Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
In actual numbers, this would mean the asteroid was flying by 5.7 million kilometres from our planet.
While space is full of countless floating rocks, NASA keeps a close eye on the ones that roam around our home planet.
NASA'sPlanetary Defense Coordination Office keeps scanning the sky with advanced telescopes and reports prominent flybys.
The reason why there are frequent reports of rocks passing by us is because scientists have become skilled at detecting them. With more and more advanced technology, flybys become easier to predict.