A previously unseen asteroid the size of a truck flew about 4,350 miles (7,000 kilometers) over the Pacific Ocean on Monday, making it one of the closest passes by our planet on record.
Astronomers had no notice of asteroid 2020 JJ's existence, as it was discovered using the Mt.
Lemmon Survey in Arizona right around the time it reached its closest point to us.
Rather, it says something about how astronomers and their technology are becoming better at spotting ever-smaller and closer asteroids.
Consider that asteroid 1998 OR2, which made headlines recently for its close pass (not nearly as close as 2020 JJ), is a mile across.
Close asteroid passes like this aren't really anything worth worrying about, but it's always worth keeping an eye on what's going on near our planet.
You can catch some interesting sights by watching the sky this week, like the Eta Aquarid meteor shower and the last supermoon of the year. »
![image for I used two different scopes and over 50 hours of exposure to reveal hundreds of galaxies in a small region of the sky in true color [OC]](8cf4b0e5-9b19-5049-9876-8af555af0a7d_thumb.jpg)
