Asteroid 2020 XR will safely fly previous Earth on 4 December 2024 at 05:26 UTC (06:26 CET). It is between 300 and 700 m throughout and can move just below six instances the space from Earth to the Moon.
When astronomers found 2020 XR, precisely 4 years in the past, they briefly thought it had a small likelihood of colliding with Earth in 2028. But by trying again at older observations of the sky, they noticed the asteroid in present information and used this extra data to extra precisely calculate its orbit across the Sun and rule out any likelihood of Earth influence for a minimum of the subsequent 100 years.
Find out extra about asteroids and ESA’s Planetary Defence actions.
