Oddly shaped asteroid once considered an impact risk for Earth races past the planet

NASA managed to image an asteroid larger than the Empire State Building and with similar proportions as it hurtled past Earth at the beginning of February, 2023.

The asteroid, designated 2011 AG5, passed safely past our planet at a distance of around 1.1 million miles (1.8 million kilometers), about five times the distance between Earth and the moon. But, while it posed no danger of impacting our planet, the asteroid could actually still have a big scientific impact.

The close approach allowed scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California to track the space rock, and make invaluable observations to help determine its size, rotation, surface details, and, most notably, shape.