A mini truck-sized asteroid just gave Earth a close shave

An asteroid named 2021 GW4 about the size of a small truck flew harmlessly past Earth on April 12.

This recently detected space rock was travelling at 18,706 miles per hour (30,104 km/h) or 8.36 kilometres per second, relative to Earth.

According to reports, the rock was well inside the ring where many artificial satellites orbit around the Earth at an altitude of 35,786 km.

The asteroid was about 26,200 km away from Earth — less than one-tenth the distance between the Earth and the moon, and quite close as far as asteroid approaches go. The average distance between the Earth and the moon is about 384,400 km.

Asteroid 2021 GW4 was discovered on April 8, 2021, using the 59 inches (1.5 metres) telescope of the Catalina Sky Survey at Mt. Lemmon, Arizona.

According to NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, more than 500 asteroids have been already identified this year.

(With inputs from agencies)