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Keyword: ztf0dxq

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  • A car-sized asteroid made the closest Earth flyby a space rock has ever survived

    08/18/2020 9:13:46 PM PDT · by BenLurkin · 45 replies
    space.com ^ | 18 August 2020 | Chelsea Gohd
    On Sunday (Aug. 16), the asteroid, initially labeled ZTF0DxQ and now formally known to astronomers as 2020 QG, swooped by Earth at a mere 1,830 miles (2,950 kilometers) away. The flyby wasn't expected and took many by surprise. In fact, the Palomar Observatory didn't detect the zooming asteroid until about six hours after the object's closest approach. "The asteroid approached undetected from the direction of the sun," Paul Chodas, the director of NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies, told Business Insider. The close flyby was also a fast one, as 2020 QG swooped near Earth at a blistering 27,600...