Peanut-shaped asteroid the size of 11 buses just passed Earth

By Dean Murray via SWNS

Space scientists have shown off a peanut-shaped asteroid that passed near Earth this month.

The "potentially hazardous" space rock - called 2024 ON - is estimated to potentially be the size of eleven buses.

Thankfully, the unusual asteroid posed no threat to our planet this time, passing Earth at a distance of 620k miles (1m km) – about 2.6 times the distance between the Moon and Earth.

Before its close encounter on Sep 17, the European Space Agency described the asteroid as "between 210 and 500 m across".

They added: "This asteroid poses no danger to Earth , but objects such as 2024 ON are a central focus of planetary defense efforts."

A series of radar images obtained by the Deep Space Network's Goldstone Solar System Radar near Barstow, California, on 16 Sep.

NASA said: "Discovered by the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on Mauna Loa in Hawaii on July 27, the near-Earth asteroid's shape resembles that of a peanut."

The space agency added: "The asteroid is classified as potentially hazardous, but it does not pose a hazard to Earth for the foreseeable future.

"These Goldstone measurements have allowed scientists to greatly reduce the uncertainties in the asteroid's distance from Earth and in its future motion for many decades."

The post Peanut-shaped asteroid the size of 11 buses just passed Earth appeared first on Talker .