Did NASA-ATLAS miss a 89–200 metre wide asteroid passing close to Earth on June 5?

Recently, a massive asteroid passed between the Earth and the moon at a distance of 306,000 km from Earth. However, the astronomers had no idea about it until it actually passed the Earth on June 5. Read on to know more about this massive asteroid that the NASA-ATLAS came to know of two days after it actually passed. 

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Asteroid 2020LD was missed by NASA on June 5?

This asteroid is now claimed to be the largest asteroid to pass near the Earth in as long as nine years. According to Purdue University's researchers and impact predictor, the asteroid would actually have made a nuclear-size explosion had it hit the Earth. NASA-ATLAS system does a good job of detecting the PHAs (potentially hazardous asteroids) and has detected 46 of these as of now. Even though 2020 LD is not considered as a PHA, but still it was a miss on ATLAS' part. 

The data from NASA tells that the asteroid which was named 2020LD was actually discovered on June 7. This means that NASA  detected the asteroid 2 days after it actually travelled between the earth and the moon. Asteroid 2020LD was 80 – 200 metres wide and its distance from the earth was 306,000 km when it passed on June 5.

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This asteroid which was detected by a telescope in Hawaii’s ATLAS system, missed this possibly devastating asteroid when it passed by Earth on June 5. The ATLAS system refers to the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System which is a NASA funded project. It specifically supervises for any massive asteroids to be near earth’s vicinity that can actually destroy earth’s cities or planets. NASA has a twitter handle where they inform about such asteroid scares as well. Take a look. 

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Previous asteroid scares

Before this, an asteroid scare happened in 2019 when a 100-meter wide asteroid was finally spotted at the last minute. The asteroid was called OK and it was deemed as a potential city killer. It passed within 73,000 kilometres of Earth. The meteor which was deemed to have wiped out the dinosaurs was 16km wide. However, this near-miss asteroid that passed between the earth and the moon on June 5 recently is said to be of between 89 – 200 metres wide. Apparently according to EarthSky reports, if this asteroid did hit the earth while passing, it might have caused a kilometre wide crater that one can see in Flagstaff, Arizona, USA.

How will NASA deflect potentially hazardous asteroids

Currently, there are two ways known to be planned by NASA to deflect or decrease the intensity of the hazardous asteroids approaching earth. The two ways are using a Nuclear bomb or a kinetic impact. Either a nuclear bomb would be launched to blast the asteroid away or a kinetic impactor that is a spacecraft or a rocket to collide with the PHA and considerably push it off the course from the earth. NASA is planning to use a kinetic impactor for the asteroid named Psyche in 2026. 

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