An asteroid dubbed 1998 QE2 whizzed past Earth on Friday, with its own moon in tow.
Scientists have been rubbing their hands for a decade and a half for this opportunity since they discovered the asteroid on August 19, 1998, the year for which it is named. The letter "Q" stands for the month of August.
It got within about 3.6 million miles of our planet. That's close relatively given the vastness of space, but still more than 15 times the distance from wherever you are to our moon.
1998 QE2's moon, which is 2,000 feet wide, is large enough for NASA to term it a "potential city killer." The asteroid it revolves around is much bigger, at 1.7 miles wide.
"This is one of the big ones," Chodas said.
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