A truck-sized asteroid zoomed frighteningly close to Earth this weekend
A truck-sized asteroid passed within 40,563 miles of Earth on Sunday, just hours after it was first spotted by scientists, CBS News reports. It was a very, very near miss: The moon, by comparison, is 238,900 miles away from Earth.
The asteroid is estimated to be approximately 15 feet by 33 feet in size. You can breath a sigh of relief at least — to cause "worldwide effects," an asteroid would probably have to be about a mile wide. NASA reports that "space rocks smaller than about 25 meters (about 82 feet) will most likely burn up as they enter the Earth's atmosphere and cause little or no damage."
What is more concerning is that Sunday's asteroid came out of nowhere. "We didn't expect 2017 BH30 and other nearby asteroids to seem to be sneaking up on us every other week, so keep your eyes open," CBS News reports.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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