former Monday morning , while the US East Coast was making coffee , dropping kids off at shoal , and cursing in dealings , a blank space rock as big as a 10 - story construction slide past Earth .
The asteroid , dubbed2017 AG13 , was discovered only Saturday by the University of Arizona’sCatalina Sky Survey , according to an email from Slooh , a troupe that broadcasts alive views of space .
It ’s between 50 and 111 feet ( 15 to 34 cadence ) long , and when it swung by Earth , 2017 AG3 was moving at 9.9 miles per second ( 16 kilometers per secondly ) . The near - Earth physical object , or NEO , come within about half the distance that the moonlight is from Earth , consort toSlooh .
Trail of the asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, on 9 April 2025.
" This is moving very quickly , very nearby to us , " Eric Feldman , an stargazer with Slooh , said duringa live broadcast of the flybyat 7:47 a.m. ET on January 9 . " It in reality crosses the orbits of two planet , Venus and Earth . "
A nigh young woman
Trail of the asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk , Russia , on February 15 , 2013.Flickr / Alex Alishevskikh
What would have take place if the asteroid had cover into our atmosphere ?
allot to an asteroid - encroachment simulator call " Impact Earth ! " by Purdue University , it might not have been as bad as it might vocalise .
Had a porous sway asteroid of 111 fundament ( 34 metre ) long hit Earth at a 45 - grade slant , the simulator find , it would have blow up as an air burst . The flak would have free about 700 kilotons ' worth of energy — dozens of time more powerful than the nuclear bomb detonated over Hiroshima .
But since it would have occur from a space of about 10 miles high , it probably would n’t have had much effect on the priming coat ; if anything , a high - altitude boom may have vocalise as loud as heavy traffic on the background .
Slooh
Such strikes come about once every 150 eld , consort to Purdue .
However , according to Slooh , 2017 AG3 was " roughly the same size as the asteroid that strike Chelyabinsk , Russia in 2013 , " so the on - the - ground effects — including shattered windowpane and slenderly damage buildings — may have been similar .
" It is not that uncommon of an event , which is one of the reasons it is interesting,“Mark Sykes , film director and CEO of the Planetary Science Institute , separate Business Insider in an email .
In fact , about 38 more " skinny approaches " like asteroid 2017 AG3 ’s are expect in January alone , according to NASA’sNear Earth Object Program .
Hunting for NEOs
An artist ’s concept of the NEOCam asteroid - hunt mission . NASA / JPL - Caltech
Sykes is one of the scientist behind a propose asteroid - hunting space telescope called theNear - Earth Objects Camera , or NEOCam .
" NEOCam would detect some of these small asteroids , but because they are little they would have to be close to be seen , " Sykes order .
The NEOCam telescope is project to detect larger ( yet still relatively modest ) space Rock of roughly 460 feet ( 140 meters ) great . If launched , a 10 - yr - retentive mission is expected discover 10 times the known NEOs of that size , or bigger , compare to any previous survey of the sky .
Such object pose a fearsome risk to manhood since they can secrete many time the energy of athermonuclear bombif they discover our planet — and yet we ’re mostly blind to them as Earth rove througha shooting picture gallery .
Yet last workweek , NASA chose for the second time not to in full fund NEOCam with $ 450 million .
The space agency insteadchose two other missionsfor future launch : Lucy , which will explore swarms of asteroids in Jupiter ’s orbit , and Psyche , which will vanish out to and investigate the giant metallic heart and soul of a dead proto - planet .
While NASA does intend to give NEOCam partial funding for another class , the space way could n’t assure Business Insider how much or under what condition , nor what its long - term plans are for the mission .
So for now , NEOCam ’s future — and our power to retrieve these unseen threat — rest uncertain .
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