Phew! Truck-sized asteroid misses Earth

Asteroid 2023 BU whizzed past without incident and back out into the blackness of space.

Bruce Willis: you can stand down.

A truck-sized asteroid that suddenly loomed out of the darkness a few days ago -- with the Earth in its sights -- sailed harmlessly past us on Thursday, space scientists said.

Despite what we've seen in movies like Armageddon, no global mission to blow it up or knock it off course with nuclear weapons was required.

Instead, Asteroid 2023 BU whizzed past without incident and back out into the blackness of space.

Phew.

The rock, which was spotted for the first time on Saturday by an amateur stargazer in Crimea, came closest to the southern tip of South America at around 0029 GMT Friday, according to scientists who were tracking it.

At its nearest point, the asteroid was just 2,200 miles (3,600 kilometers) from Earth's surface -- just a quarter of the height of many of the geostationary satellites that make our telephones and car navigation systems work.