The space rock was called 2018 VP1 but was also dubbed the ‘Election Day Asteroid’ as it swung by our planet on the eve of the US election. According to data from NASA, the asteroid had a one in 240 chance of colliding with our planet on November 2.
Thankfully for us, it swung by Earth at roughly the same distance from our planet as the Moon is.
However, the asteroid was only three metres wide, so even if it had collided with our planet, it would likely have merely burned up in the atmosphere.
Astronomy site Space Weather said: “Asteroid 2018 VP1 approached Earth on Nov. 2nd … and missed.
“The 3-metre wide space rock had a 1 in 240 (0.41 percent) chance of hitting our planet on the eve of US Election Day, but no fireballs or impact-infrasounds were detected.
“Break out the Oreos and let the election begin!”
Planetary astronomer Michael Busch added on Twitter: “There was apparently nothing on the infrasound and atmospheric flash monitors today.
“2018 VP1 has, as expected, flown past Earth.”
With it being so close to Earth, NASA designated the asteroid as a near Earth object (NEO).
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“Likewise, today’s asteroids are the bits and pieces left over from the initial agglomeration of the inner planets that include Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.
“As the primitive, leftover building blocks of the solar system formation process, comets and asteroids offer clues to the chemical mixture from which the planets formed some 4.6 billion years ago.
“If we wish to know the composition of the primordial mixture from which the planets formed, then we must determine the chemical constituents of the leftover debris from this formation process – the comets and asteroids.”