"30 times closer than the Moon" ๐
Around 12 thousand miles (19.3 thousand kilometers).
12k miles is very close, the headline is using ridiculous comparisons, but 12k is closer than many medium and high orbit satellites.
How much is that in elephants?
I'm not up to date on the latest elephant measuring units but we're talking at lease 7.8million horse lengths away of that helps.
If you're looking for greater accuracy we can always convert that to badgers with a simple formula.
Rude to call your mom that.
Which on the scale of the solar system is essentially the width of a damned hair. We have satellites in higher orbits than that.
Missed it by this ๐ค much
I know that's not how the phrase is meant to be read, but I can't unsee it as it flying separately by the earth and the moon and deciding to buzz one of the two a bit closer.
Than vs then.
Hrm, so there's a third interpretation.
Is that big enough to not burn up in the atmosphere?
This means it's an asteroid with a weight-class that would have burned up in Earth's atmosphere, if its orbit happened to intersect ours more directly.
So... Asteroid that would have burned up in the atmosphere will miss us instead. I guess that's good news?
Livescience is 90% over-hyped nothing.
A quick search suggests that something as small as 5 meters can survive hitting the ground, however there are a number of calculations to consider including the speed it is traveling, the entry angle, and the material it is made of.