Close approach of asteroid 2020 XR

Asteroid 2020 XR will safely fly past Earth on 4 December 2024 at 05:26 UTC (06:26 CET). It is between 300 and 700 m across and will pass just under six times the distance from Earth to the Moon.

When astronomers discovered 2020 XR, exactly four years ago, they briefly thought it had a small chance of colliding with Earth in 2028. But by looking back at older observations of the sky, they spotted the asteroid in existing data and used this additional information to more accurately calculate its orbit around the Sun and rule out any chance of Earth impact for at least the next 100 years.

Find out more about asteroids and ESA's Planetary Defence activities.