Just as the risk from 2021 QM1 appeared to be increasing, an (im)perfect cosmic alignment occurred: the asteroid’s path brought it closer to the Sun as seen from Earth, and for months it became impossible to see due to our star’s brilliant glare.
“We just had to wait,” explained Marco Micheli, Astronomer at ESA’s Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre (NEOCC).
Read the full story.