A truck-sized asteroid passes Earth in one of the closest approaches on record

An

passed close to Earth on Thursday in

, space scientists have reported.

The

, recently discovered by an amateur astronomer, passed through the southern tip of South America at around 4:29 p.m. local time (01:24 a.m. Spanish peninsular time), according to the North American space agency

.

At its closest,

, much closer than many geostationary satellites orbiting the planet.

NASA diagram with the trajectory of the asteroid 2023 BU

The rock was discovered on Saturday from an

by amateur astronomer

, who had already detected an

Dozens of sightings were then made at observatories around the world, and the

quickly ruled out an asteroid impact on Earth, the space agency said.

Despite making few observations, Scout was able to predict that the asteroid would "come extraordinarily close to Earth," said

, who helped develop the Scout system. "In fact, this

," he added.

But even if the calculations had been wrong, humanity would have been safe, according to scientists.

With a length of only 3.5 to 8.5 meters,

and would have caught fire upon entering the atmosphere.

The few meteorites that have made it to land are small, not like the huge blocks that destroy cities and cause tsunamis in the movies.

Its approach to Earth will have a more lasting impact on the asteroid, according to NASA mathematicians.

Earth 's

around the Sun, from 359 days in the past to 425 days, according to NASA.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

• POT

• rehearsal