Close shave?

On August 28 asteroid 2016 QA2 flew by the Earth at only twice the distance at which our geostationary satellites are positioned. In astronomical terms this would be a close encounter. The asteroid was spotted by the Brazilian Southern Observatory for Near Earth Asteroids Research (SONEAR) project just one day prior to this date. The asteroid is around 25-55 metres wide, about twice the size of the rock that exploded over Chelyabinsk in February of 2013 and injured thousands of people.

It goes to show that still many near-Earth objects or NEOs are unknown and it highlights that the study of asteroids is of the utmost importance to preserve life as we know it on this Earth.

Amateur astronomers from the Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM) team are helping to pin down the trajectory, read more here.

For physical data on the asteroid please visit the NASA/JPL Small-Body Database Browser or the Minor Planet Center.