Earth got a close shave this morning from an asteroid so small it was originally mistaken for space junk.

The object, called 2011 MD, zipped 7,600 miles above Earth’s surface at about 1:15 pm EDT on June 27. It was discovered on June 22 by the LINEAR project, which hunts for objects that pass close to Earth using robotic telescopes in New Mexico.

2011 MD is between 16 and 65 feet wide and is in a very Earth-like orbit around the sun, which made astronomers wonder if it was a stray rocket booster left over from a previous space mission. But running the object’s orbit backwards showed that the asteroid never came close enough to Earth during the space age to have started life as a rocket booster.

The animation above was taken with the Faulkes Telescope South’s 2 meter telescope. Each image is a 20-second exposure. The image below is a single 20-second exposure taken with a red-green-blue filter.

Although 2011 MD was a close encounter, it was not a record breaker. The record still lies with 2011 CQ1, which on Feb. 4 came within 7,366 miles of Earth.

Asteroids of this size pass close by Earth every six years or so, and there’s a small chance one could hit Earth. But don’t worry: According to NASA, they’ll disintegrate in Earth’s atmosphere.

Correction: The story originally stated that 2011 MD would pass Earth at 9:30 am EDT. The time of its closest passage is closer to 1:15 am EDT.

Via Universe Today

Images: Ernesto Guido, Nick Howes and Giovanni Sostero at the Faulkes Telescope South.

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