The asteroid - the co-ordinates of which are available below - was spotted by user planetkrejci in a video posted three days ago
Youtube user planetkrejci, who has investigated other anomalies on NASA pictures, claims the object - found using the Google website which transports the heavens to desktop computers and smartphones - is an asteroid which is heading towards Earth.
He says the asteroid - which, if real, has not been spotted by other scientists or astronomers - has only appeared recently on Google Sky, which receives updated images every few months.
Close-up: The object certainly looks like an asteroid - which seems to be spotted with green flecks
The user had been exploring the region a few months earlier, and had 'bookmarked' a spot just to the left of the asteroid - so he is certain the object was not there previously.
There are other explanations - this could be a simple technical glitch, either on Google Sky's end or within the original photograph.
The earthbound Google Maps regularly has glitches where pictures have been incorrectly sewn together.
In context: The apparent clarity of the 'asteroid' implies it is close, certainly within our solar system
However, if planetkrejci has found a new object, it will be quite an achievement for an earth-bound Internet user to discover a new object in our solar system before NASA or other observatories.
The object is easy to find on Google Sky, by typing in the co-ordinates 5h 11m 33.74s -12 50' 30.09" - although conspiracy theorists might read something into the fact that the search function on Google Sky is currently down...
Reader Comments
I believe there are Asteroids, bolides, comets etc.. and I can certainly be wrong about things, but to me, the object looks animated.
Why ? ?
b) Parts of it are glowing green.
c) No confirmation from any other source.
d) It is rather big
e) Google Sky is a computer software, meaning until you see it with your own eyes or lots of different people confirm the existence of something, it should be put in the "suspect" box.
f) Too good to be true.
g) Confirmation bias, everyone is expecting a comet cluster that will initially appear as a single body.
h) Have you ever heard of a comet/meteorite/asteroid being discovered "first" on google sky?
e.t.c.
It is unusually clear compared to the rest of the image.
This suggests it's either contamination, some insert or overlay, or something relatively close.
If it were about as far away as the moon it would be about 9km across.
If it were about as far away as Saturn it would be about 35,000 km across.
So, its significance, apart from whether it is real or not, is entirely in how far away it really is.