Closer than the Moon: 3 giant asteroids whizz by Earth in one day

The Earth has been spared from an apocalyptic scenario after three massive asteroids zipped by our planet on Wednesday – with one of the giant space rocks passing closer than the Moon.

With a diameter of up to 120 meters, asteroid 2019 OD soared past our planet moving at roughly 43,000 miles per hour at a distance of 222,160 miles from Earth, NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) said. The celestial object capable of inflicting massive damage was closer to Earth than our immediate satellite the Moon, which lies 238,900 miles away.

Asteroids 2019 OE and 2015 HM10 also zipped by Earth at a distance of 600,494 miles and 2,914,164 miles, respectively.NASA discovers an average of 30 Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) every week – and the chances of a large NEO colliding with Earth is astronomically small.

In June, a “potentially hazardous” asteroid flew by Earth at a distance of 4.2 million miles. A month earlier, an asteroid so large that it had its own moon came hurtling towards Earth – but never got within five million miles of us.

Like this story? Share it with a friend!