Last week, an asteroid with the size of a 20-story building came remarkably close to Earth, passing by at a distance approximately one-fourth of the space between Earth and the moon.

Surprisingly, astronomers only noticed its presence two days later.

Now designated as 2023 NT1, this space rock is about 200 feet wide (60 meters) and cruised past our planet on July 13, traveling at an estimated speed of 53,000 mph (86,000 km/h), according to NASA.

The asteroid’s approach went undetected because it approached Earth from the direction of the sun, causing telescopes to be blinded by our star’s glare, Live Science reported.

It wasn’t until July 15 when a telescope in South Africa, part of the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), an array of telescopes designed to detect asteroids days to weeks before any potential impact, spotted the asteroid as it was departing our vicinity.

Subsequently, more than a dozen other telescopes also observed the asteroid shortly after its passage, as reported by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center.

Written by staff