By: Gabby Zhou

Introduction
Two rare asteroids flew near Earth in the same 48 hours: Asteroid (415029) 2011 UL21 and the newly discovered Asteroid 2024 MK. Although both asteroids were close to the Earth, neither were close enough to come to harm.

Asteroid (415029) 2011 UL21
Asteroid (415029) 2011 UL21 is one of the largest asteroids to have recently passed near Earth. This asteroid has an estimated diameter of roughly 1.4 miles. According to the European Space Agency, this mountain-sized space rock is larger than 99% of all known near-Earth objects.

The asteroid passed by Earth on June 27, 2024, at a distance of 6,641,274 km away from us. The next time the 2011 UL21 is predicted to pass Earth will be on June 25, 2089, where it is estimated to be 2,666,337 km away from us.

Newly discovered Asteroid 2024 MK
Asteroid 2024 MK was first discovered earlier this month, just 13 days before it passed by Earth at a remarkably close range. It’s much smaller than 2011 UL21, with an estimated diameter between 390 and 885 feet.

On June 29, 2024, the newly discovered Asteroid 2024 MK passed by Earth at 75% the distance of Earth from the Moon.

Failure To Spot These Asteroids? Don’t Worry
For anyone who failed to see either the Asteroid (415029) 2011 UL21 or the Asteroid 2024 MK, there’s another one coming in the future. On April 13, 2029, Apophis, a 1,100 foot-long asteroid, is predicted to fly less than 20,000 miles above Earth’s surface, “closer than the orbits of geosynchronous satellites.” (The New York Times, 2024)