NASA Shares Amazing Images Of Asteroid That Flew By Earth Showing It Has It’s Own Moon

In the relative scheme of the infinite realm of space, asteroid 2004 BL86 pretty much buzzed the Earth on Tuesday. The soaring space rock came within 745,000 miles of our planet; the next time a known asteroid of this size passes by Earth won’t happen until asteroid 1999 AN10 flies past our planet in 2027 (Hopefully there are no surprise visitors before or after).

During the asteroid’s fly-by, NASA revealed to the world that the asteroid had it’s very own moon tagging along. Based on data and radar collected by the Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif., the asteroid is approximately 1,100-feet across and has a small moon approximately 230-feet wide. While you may never have heard about asteroids having their own moon, scientists say that in the near-Earth population, about 16 percent of asteroids are binary with an asteroid moon following it and even ones with two moons.

Asteroid 2004 BL86 was discovered on Jan. 30, 2004, by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) survey in White Sands, New Mexico. The next time asteroid 2004 BL86 will come visit Earth won’t be for 200 years. Looks like you can pack away your space mining suit and relax for the time being Bruce Willis.