Using powerful telescopes thanks to the development of technology humans are able to detect Asteroids and other heavenly bodies that could cause a danger to earth easily and prepare themselves.
But a “City-Killer” Asteroid named “2019 OK” made a surprising pass from the Planet Earth with a distance of 43,000 miles (73,000 kilometers) one-fifth of the distance between Earth and the Moon and the astronomers were not known about it before the time for preparation.
Astronomers blamed Sun for the miss: The rock’s trajectory put it on a path that sent it straight towards Earth from the direction of the Sun, because of how bright our host star is, scientists couldn’t spot the asteroid within its intense glare, making it impossible to see it ahead of time.
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Luckily it was not in the path of a collision with Earth because it was traveling at a speed of 54,000 miles per hour and would have been impossible to stop because astronomers get information about it merely hours ago.
And it was not as big as a “Planet-Killer” 2019 OK was as large as 430 foot and could have created a destroyed a city as large as New York City.
Last known asteroid of that size known as the Tunguska event, caused an explosion that leveled 2,000 square kilometers (770 square miles) of forest land in Siberia.
There’s a slight chance that an asteroid will hit Earth in 2135 but NASA has all plans to counter it.