Our awareness of the greater universe is often limited to bits and pieces of news that reach us, like the recent strawberry moon or about fantastic exploration trips planned. We realise too how unimaginably vast it is.
What you may not know is how every year a handful of asteroids -- also called minor planets -- skim past Earth at distances that are startlingly close in astronomical terms.
Some travel nearer than the moon, others even venture closer than certain satellites orbiting our planet.
These fleeting visitors almost never are a threat to the rhythms of our daily lives. Yet they are as a reminder that Earth shares its corner of the solar system with innumerable flying rocks.
The most recent episode was on June 27, 2026, but it came by at a distance of 2.6 million km.
Scientists, lead by Stephen Hawking and Brian May (astrophysicist and Queen guitarist), and later the UN, decided to recognise asteroids when they named a day in their honour, marking the meteor burst event that occurred in a forest in Siberia in 1908 on June 30, flattening 2,150 sq km of taiga.
The next asteroid occurrence is expected to be on April 13, 2029: An asteroid named for the God of Chaos will show up within the earth's orbit. 2029 Apophis 99942, a massive 340 m diameter rock shall pass some 32,000 km from the Earth's surface.
Here are eight asteroids that swooped very close to Earth in recent years.
1. 2017 GM
Asteroid 2017 GM passed exceptionally close to Earth on April 4, 2017, sailing just 9,900 km above the planet's surface.
Measuring around 3 to 6 metres across, this tiny space rock was as large as a small car.
2. 2018 UA
On October 19, 2018, Asteroid 2018 UA zoomed past earth rather too close for comfort.
It was spotted only about 90 minutes ahead of its nearest approach, giving astronomers almost no time to track its journey.
3. 2019 UN13
Tiny 2019 UN13 zipped near Earth on October 31, 2019, coming just 6,200 km short of our planet's surface.
1-2 m in diameter, it was only discovered as it raced by.
4. 2020 VT4
This rock made headlines on November 13, 2020 because the rock swept a bare 370 km above Earth.
It went unnoticed until around 15 hours after its closest approach, when astronomers finally detected it.
5. 2021 UA1
October 25, 2021 was another day for a close shave for Planet Earth --Asteroid 2021 UA1 whizzed 3,047 km overhead very near Antarctica.
6. 2022 FD1
Skimming 8,470 km above the Earth's atmosphere, Asteroid 2022 FD1, just 1 m across, visited on March 25, 2022.
7. 2023 BU
In 2023 the most important NEO (Near Earth Object) news was when 3-8 metres 2023 BU came calling on January 27, 2023, 10,000 km from the planet's centre.
8. 2025 UC11
This little boy did a rather daring pass at 230 km on October 30, 2025, earning a place in the record books.
2025 UC11 became the closest and smallest (1.3-3 metres) known asteroid fly-by ever tracked with modern telescopes.
