A near Earth light touch — but not close up enough for impact — by this giant 1,200 foot asteroid provided the perfect opportunity to get a close look at the asteroid ( and its unpaired shape , like a slightly toothed peanut ) with these pictures , some of the sharpest image of an asteroid ever taken .
Top persona : Asteroid 2014 HQ124 in montage , NASA - JPL
There was not a concern that Asteroid 2014 HQ124 would impact Earth . It did , however , encounter by us fairly close , come nearest last week , on June 8 ( as you’re able to see in this domain diagram ) at over 770,000 miles forth .
double : Orbit diagram , NASA / JPL
That distance turned out to be the utter one to catch this serial publication of high resolution child’s play , which you may also see recreate below . By capturing the asteroid as it rotate , astronomers Marina Brozovic and Lance Benner at JPL were able-bodied to get a moderately good idea of the shape of the whole asteroid , even seeing feature article that were , as Benner noted , no encompassing than an modal dealings lane .
The goober form of the asteroid itself , is not so very strange , about 1 in 6 type O f every asteroid spotted shares a standardized one . There were , however , some oddities unequalled to HQ124 , include notably a large - unwell hill in the middle and a concave area stretching across almost an entire side of the asteroid .
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