A 10-foot asteroid whizzed past Earth yesterday at a distance 20 times closer than the moon – and astronomers spotted it just six hours before its closest approach.

Known as 2017 EA, the tiny space rock soared just 9,000 miles (14,500 km) above the eastern Pacific Ocean, reaching its nearest point at 6:04 a.m. PST on Thursday morning.

This year has already seen several 'close shaves' with asteroids, but astronomers say this object likely won’t come around again for at least a hundred years.

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A 10-foot asteroid whizzed past Earth yesterday at a distance 20 times closer than the moon – and astronomers spotted it just six hours before its closest approach. It reached its closest point at 6:04 a.m. PST on Thursday morning

Scientists at the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona detected asteroid 2017 EA just six hours before its closest approach, according to the space agency’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies.

The 10-foot-wide object (3 meters) passed safely by Earth on Thursday - but, it came within the ring of geosynchronous satellites.

Soon after it made its closest approach, the asteroid flew into the daytime sky and out of sight of the ground-based telescopes.

The object was spotted by a number of observatories before passing into Earth’s shadow, and the astronomers say its orbit has now been plotted ‘quite accurately.’

Scientists at the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona detected asteroid 2017 EA just six hours before its closest approach, according to the space agency’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies

The object was spotted by a number of observatories before passing into Earth’s shadow, and the astronomers say its orbit has now been plotted ‘quite accurately.’ Astronomers say this object likely won’t come around again for at least a hundred years

It comes just weeks after a much larger space rock, thought to be between 11 and 25 metres (36 to 82 feet) passed by at a distance twice as close as the moon.

The asteroid, dubbed 2017 BS32, reached its closest point at 100,214 miles (161,280 km) above Earth.

And, just days before that, an asteroid roughly the size of a school bus flew by Earth on January 24, coming 30 percent closer to our planet than the moon.

Nicknamed ‘Rerun,’ asteroid 2017 BX approached just before midnight (ET), travelling 16,600 miles per hour (about 26,700 km/hr).

Scientists discovered the object a few days before its approach, and described it as a close shave.

This year has already seen several 'close shaves' with asteroids.In February, a a much larger space rock, thought to be between 11 and 25 metres (36 to 82 feet) passed by at a distance twice as close as the moon. A stock image is pictured

'CLOSE SHAVES' THIS YEAR January 8th - Asteriod 2017 AG1 flew by Earth at a distance of 126,461 miles (203,520km) January 24th - Asteroid 2017 BX flew by Earth at a distance of 162,252 miles (261,120km) January 30th - Asteroid 2017 BH30 flew by Earth at a distance of 40,563 miles (65,280 km) February 2nd – Asteroid 2017 BS32 flew by Earth at a distance of 100,214 miles (161,280 km) Advertisement

The asteroid was only discovered on January 20.

Just weeks before that incident, an asteroid as big as a 10-story building passed by Earth at a distance half that of the moon.

The asteroid, dubbed 2017 AG13, was only spotted only days before by the University of Arizona's Catalina Sky Survey.

It is between 50 and 111 feet (15 to 34 meters) long, and when it passed by Earth on January 9, 2017, AG3 was moving at 9.9 miles per second (16 kilometers per second).