ASTEROID, the size of a pickup truck, arrived less than 250 miles from the crash on Earth, reveals NASA

A pickup-sized asteroid just coasted within 240 miles of Earth, NASA revealed.

The very close encounter last week set a record for the closest known space rock to fly past the planet without actually striking.

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According to the Center for Near-Earth Studies, the asteroid – 2020 VT4 – passed within 240 miles of our surface in the early hours of November 13.

It was first identified and monitored by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), operated by both NASA and the University of Hawaii.

The asteroid has been considered a NEO (Near-Earth Object) due to its proximity to our planet.

However, given its relatively small size, from around 16 feet to 30 feet, it wasn’t considered a real threat.

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And experts believe it likely would have disintegrated in the Earth’s atmosphere if it got too close to our surface.

Any fast-moving space object that is within approximately four million miles is considered “potentially dangerous” by cautious space organizations.

According to a surprising report from Planetary.org two years ago, there are more than 18,000 NEOs.

In September, NASA reported how two huge asteroids had just touched Earth.

One was twice the size of Buckingham Palace and the other was traveling at 14,000 miles per hour.

And in August, NASA tracked down a massive asteroid nearly twice the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza that was rushing towards Earth at 31,400 miles per hour.

Last July, we reported how Earth had a near-crash with a “city killer” asteroid as it sped through space at 15 miles per second.

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The 2019 asteroid OK arrived within 43,500 miles of the collision with our planet, which is closer than the moon.

In 2018, NASA unveiled a 20-page plan that outlined the steps needed to prepare for future NEOs.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine also said that an asteroid attack is arguably the greatest threat to Earth.