A small asteroid just flew by Earth and some of the satellites at a very close distance. Named 2021 GW4, the small rock is a piece of cosmic debris. It was about the size of a small truck; however, wasn’t very intimidating. The asteroid is said to have come within 12,324 miles (19,833 km) of the Earth’s surface. It reached its closest point on Monday, as per Harvard scientist Jonathan McDowell.

The distance is way closer than many large artificial satellites orbiting the Earth. Many satellites have been placed at an altitude of 22,236 miles (35,786 km). McDowell estimated that a military GPS satellite was about 2,000 km away from the asteroid’s path.

NASA explained that the rock was harmless, as its diameter was between 3 and 7 meters, which is small enough to likely turn to ashes after hitting the atmosphere. The space rock was first spotted by the Mt. Lemmon Survey in Arizona on April 8.

This also sheds light on the importance of improving the ability of such surveys that track small asteroids coming in close proximity with the Earth. There have been cases where small asteroids were discovered just hours before the flyby or after they have passed by. As of 2021, only two asteroids have skimmed past Earth from a close distance; however, none of them ever posed a threat.

Speaking of which, every year thousands of space rocks fly by Earth. In March, a massive asteroid passed by our planet. As per NASA, it was one of the biggest space rocks to go past Earth this year. Named, 2001 FO32, the asteroid approached Earth from about two million kilometers away. The asteroid was spotted 20 years ago and NASA thoroughly studied its pathway.

“As 2001 FO32 makes its inner solar system journey, the asteroid picks up speed like a skateboarder rolling down a halfpipe, and then slows after being flung back out into deep space and swinging back toward the Sun. It completes one orbit every 810 days (about 2 1/4 years),” NASA explained.