NASA failed to spot a whale-sized asteroid that skimmed past us

[Eudemon]

I can only think of that line in the film Armageddon about it being "a big-ass sky" when I read this. :eek: 117,000 km is incredibly close though! Why is NASA being called out for this alone, shouldn't all the agencies be up for this? Or are we only putting our trust in them?

 

Thankfully it won't be back until 2125 and by then we should hopefully be better at spotting these things.

The asteroid, referred to as 2017 VL2, was just about 117,480 kilometers from Earth when it sped by. The distance between the asteroid and the planet was just a third of the distance between the moon and Earth. NASA first observed the potentially lethal asteroid from the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii on Nov. 10, however, it had already flown past Earth on Nov. 9.

 

NASA Fails To Spot Whale-Sized Asteroid That Skimmed Past Earth : SCIENCE : Tech Times

[Ozzmcom]

people calling out the single most successful organization for science and human progress in history when it's not even their job watching for asteroids lol.