Asteroid that could’ve obliterated NYC skimmed past Earth – and NASA didn’t notice
A MASSIVE asteroid that could have destroyed New York City skimmed past Earth – and NASA had no clue.
The large space rock – dubbed 2017 VL2 – passed the planet on November 9 at an astonishing distance of just 73,000 miles, which is considered tiny in space terms.
Space boffins think that if the rock measuring between 16 and 32 metres had hit, it could’ve wiped a major city such as New York off the map.
The rock belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids and was first seen at ATLAS-MLO observatory in Hawaii a day later.
It was travelling at a speed of 8.73km/s and would have caused catastrophic damage if it had made impact.