Science
Building-Sized Asteroid Passed Earth Undetected Until After It Left in December 2024
The Why Files
The Asteroid Behind the Bible's Most Famous Disaster
What was said
"In December 2024, a building-sized rock passed between the Earth and the satellites. We never saw it coming. We only saw it leaving. It came out of the daytime sky, passed us, and a telescope in Chile caught it 2 days later, already headed away. Its return date was December 2032."
A rock the size of a 20-story building passed between Earth and its satellites in December 2024 completely undetected, only being spotted by a Chilean telescope two days after it had already left. The Webb Telescope later tracked it and calculated a clean miss for its 2032 return. The incident highlights current blind spots in asteroid detection systems, particularly for objects approaching from the direction of the sun.
Verification status
Attributed speaker claim
Egleze verified who said this and where. The underlying claim has not been independently established by Egleze.
Source and context
Egleze verified who said this and where. The underlying claim has not been independently established by Egleze.
- Programme
- The Why Files
- Episode
- The Asteroid Behind the Bible's Most Famous Disaster
- Clip time
- 32:15
- Original source
- Watch the source segment →
From this episode
The Why Files