The biggest asteroid this year flew between Earth and Moon. Scientists realized it 2 days later

Asteroids fly past our planet Earth fairly regularly and scientists are usually not only aware but even predict the dates and timings about when a particular asteroid will swing by Earth. 

However, an asteroid flew by Earth and astronomers didn’t realise it till a couple of days later!

Dubbed 2020 LD and measuring nearly 100 metres in diameter , the asteroid, travelling at a speed of 60,826 miles per hour – came closer to Earth than even the Moon on June 5.

According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the space rock was just 0.8 lunar distances away from Earth. So, if the moon is 384, 317 km away from Earth, asteroid 2020 LD 307,454 km away when it flew by. Scientists realized that the space rock had its closest approach to Earth two days before only after analyzing its orbit.

Update by Faiza Anwar

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