By: Anya Chen

Two asteroids flew near our planet in the past week. One was big enough to destroy a city, and the other was large enough to end a civilization. Thankfully, we are still here, meaning they had no chance of impacting us. You might have even been able to see one.

The larger one of the two, (415029) 2011 UL21, traveled at a distance more than 17 times farther away than the moon. It was 7,600 feet long, but extremely hard to see even with a decent telescope.

On June 29th, two days after the first asteroid passed by, the smaller space rock passed by, considerably closer to us. It was named 2024 MK, and it zipped by the Earth at 75% of the distance to the moon. You could have seen this with a decent backyard telescope or binoculars, although people in South America may have had the best view, said Andrew Rivkin, an astronomer at the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

Most near-Earth asteroids that can destroy a city or end a civilization are still yet to be discovered. The 2024 MK shows how there are still many more large objects to be found. This new discovery of these two asteroids can let researchers protect our planet from deadly ones in the future.

If you had missed the chance to see 2024 MK, worry not as you will have another opportunity awaiting. Apophis, a 1,100-foot-long asteroid will be extremely close to humanity on April 13, 2029. Additionally, it will be visible to the naked eye.