Earth gets a double asteroid flyby today. Both asteroids are newly discovered. Asteroids 2011 GW9 and 2011 GP28 will zip through the Earth-Moon system at a distance from Earth of 77,000 km and 192,000 km, respectively. Asteroid 2011 GW9 was closest at 12:53 a.m. EDT this morning, and 2011 GP28 zoomed past at 3:36 p.m. EDT – just minutes before we posted this.
Both are ten-meter class asteroids two to three times smaller than the Tunguska impactor of 1908.
There is no danger of a collision.
It’s notable that both asteroids come closer to Earth than the moon, whose mean distance of 384,400 kilometers away (about 239,000 miles – or nearly a quarter million miles).
Like what you read?
Subscribe and receive daily news delivered to your inbox.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
More from
Editors of EarthSky
View All
Retrograde motion can be real or illusory
May 2, 2024
Daytime moon is up after sunrise now
April 24, 2024