(WHDH) — A car-sized asteroid reportedly skimmed close to Earth earlier this week just hours after astronomers discovered it.
The asteroid’s closet approach to Earth came at 3:28 a.m. on Tuesday, EarthSky reported.
It is said to have passed by at just 9,532 miles from Earth’s surface and it was travelling at 39,366 miles per hour.
“It wasn’t big enough to put us on Earth in any danger,” the report said of the asteroid, which was estimated to be about 11.5 feet in diameter.
Astronomers noted that smaller asteroids are especially difficult to detect and that they are easier to spot when they get close to Earth.
More than 80 known asteroids have passed by Earth since the start of the year.
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