Asteroid the size of a London bus missed the Earth by just 240 miles on Friday 13 in closest pass on record — but it wasn’t spotted until the next day

An asteroid the size of a London bus missed the Earth by just 240 miles (386 km) on Friday 13th — but was not detected until the next day, astronomers have revealed. The space rock, dubbed ‘2020 VT4’, was only spotted 15 hours after its closest approach by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System on Mauna Loa, Hawaii. Had it come much closer, the 16–33 feet (5–10 m) wide body — as estimated from its brightness — would have burned up in the atmosphere over the South Pacific. Its orbit brought it about the same distance from the Earth as the International Space Station, making it the closest asteroid to pass by Earth on record to date.  An asteroid the size of a London bus missed the Earth by just 240 miles (386 km) on Friday 13th — but was not detected until the next day, astronomers have revealed (stock image) Asteroid 2020 VT4’s orbit brought it about the same distance from the Earth as the International Space Station, making it the closest asteroid to pass by Earth on record to date A Record Close-Shave, as Asteroid 2020 VT4 Passed 400 km from the Earth on Friday the 13th – our… Read full this story

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