An asteroid the size of the Chelyabinsk meteorite flew close to Earth

An asteroid the size of the Chelyabinsk meteorite approached the Earth at a minimum distance. As reported on September 3 at the Laboratory of Solar Astronomy of the IKI RAS, a celestial body flew inside the lunar orbit.

"Asteroid 2025 QD8, measuring 22 meters, flew inside the lunar orbit today, approaching the Earth at a minimum distance at about 18 hours Moscow time," the institute said.

The object was first spotted just two weeks ago, on August 18, and until that moment, scientists had not known anything about it.

According to experts, the asteroid is comparable in size to the Chelyabinsk meteorite that fell on February 15, 2013.

"The body did not create any danger to the Earth and missed the planet at a distance of about 0.6 of the distance to the Moon," the IKI RAS added.

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Earlier, on August 2, Harvard astrophysicist Loeb reported on the dangerous interstellar object 3I/ATLAS. It could reach Earth by the end of 2025. Loeb noted that this object may even turn out to be an alien ship capable of carrying a probe or a weapon.

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