Asteroid Nearly Hits Earth, Astronomers Reportedly Had Little Warning

An artist's work shows an asteroid near Earth. NASA

Scientists were surprised after an asteroid almost hit earth on Thursday, July 25.

“It’s impressively close. I don’t think it’s quite sunk in yet. It’s a pretty big deal,” Associate Professor Michael Brown, from Monash University’s school of physics and astronomy, told The Sydney Morning Herald.

“[If it hit Earth] it makes the bang of a very large nuclear weapon–a very large one,” he said.