An Asteroid Passed Pretty Close to Earth This Week

An asteroid whizzed past Earth this week about two days after it was first detected by astronomers, the Boston Globe reports.

The space rock, which is officially called 2017 AG13, flew between Earth and the moon Monday about 8 a.m. EST, notes Eric Edelman, an astronomer with the Slooh telescope service, in a video published on Space.com.

The asteroid, believed to be between 50 and 111 feet wide, moves about 10 miles per second and is “stretched out” like a rubber band instead of shaped like a circle, according to Slooh.

While it’s common for asteroids of that size to orbit near Earth, Edelman says the latest object stands out because it came within half the distance of the moon. “What makes it unique is sort of how close by it was to us at that point,” he explains.